# LIBRAliY OF COXGRKSS, | 

■# ' # 






^UNITED STATES "of AMEIMCA.| 



PEAT AND ITS USES, 



AS 



FERTILIZER AND FUEL. 



BY 
SAMUEL W. "^JOHNSON, A. M., 

PROFESSOR OF ANALYTICAL AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY, YALE COLLEGEo 






^ 



r. 




NEW-YORK: 



ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY, 
41 PARK ROW. 




^1 



-A 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 

. ORANGE JUDD & CO., 

At the Clerlv's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New- York. 



LovEJOY & Son, 

Electkotypers and Stereotypers. 

15 Vandewatcr street N. f . 



0- I '3 1^1 



f 



TO M: lir ir-ATHEH, 

MY EAELIEST AND BEST 

INSTRUCTOR IN RURAL AFFAIRS, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. 

S. W. J. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction vi 

PART I.— Origin,- "Varieties, and Chemical Characters of Peat. 

PAGE 

1. What is Peat ? 9 

2. Conditions of its Formation 9 

3. Different Kinds of Peat ^ 14 

Swamp Muck 17 

Salt Mud 18 

4. Chemical Characters and Composition of Peat 18 

a. Organic or combustible part .19 

Ulmic and Humic Acids 19 

Ulmin and Humin — Crenic and Apocrenic Acids . 20 

Ulmates and Humates ^.- 21 

Crenates and Apocrenates 22 

Gein and Geic Acid— Elementary Composition of Peat 23 

Ultimate Composition of the Constituents of Peat 25 

b. Mineral Part— Ashes 25 

5. Chemical Changes that occur in the Formation of Peat 26 

PART II.— On the Agricultural Uses of Peat and Swamp Muck. 

1. Characters that adapt Peat for Agricultural Use 28 

A. Physical or Amending Characters 28 

I. Absorbent Power for Water, as Liquid and Vapor 31 

II. " " for Ammonia 32 

lILInfluence in Disintegrating the Soil 34 

IV. Influence on the Temperature of Soils 37 

B. Fertilizing Characters 38 

I. Fertilizing Effects of the Organic Matters, excluding Nitrogen 38 

1. Organic Matters as Direct Food to Plants 38 

2. Organic Matters as Indirect Food to Plants ^.-^ 40 

3. Nitrogen, including Ammonia and Nitric Acid 42 

II. Fertilizing Effects of the Ashes of Peat 46 

III. Peculiarities in the Decay of Peat 50 

IV. Comparison of Peat with Stable Manure 51 

2. Characters of Peat that are detrimental, or that need correction 54 

I. Possible Bad Effects on Heavy Soils 54 

II. Noxious Ingredients 55 

a. Vitriol Peats 55 

b. Acidity — c. Resinous Matters. , 57 

3. Preparation of Peat for Agricultural Use 57 

a. Excavation 57 

b. Exposure, or Seasoning 59 

c. Composting 62 

Compost with Stable Manure ^ 63 

" " NightSoil 68 

•' " Guano 69 



VI CONTENTS. 

(3. c.) Compost with Fish and other Animal Matters 70 

" " Potash-lye & Soda-asli : Wood-ashes, Shell-marl, Lime.. 72 

" " Salt and Lime Mixture 73 

" " Carbonate of Lime, Mortar, etc 75 

4. The Author's Experiments with Peat Composts 77 

b. Examination of Peat with reference to its Agricultural Value 81 

6. Composition of Connecticut Peats 84 

Method of Analysis 86 

Tables of Composition 88-89-90 

PART III.— On Peat as Fuel. 

1. Kinds of Peat that Make the Best Fuel 02 

2. Density of Peat 9* 

3. Heating Power of Peat as Compared with Wood and Anthracite 9' 

4. Modes of Burning Peat lOi 

5. Burning of Broken Peat 10.^ 

6. Hygroscopic Water of Peat-fuel 104 

7. Sh rinkage 105 

8. Time of Excavation and Drying 105 

9. Drainage 106 

10. Cutting of Peat for Fuel— a. Preparations for Cutting 107 

b. Cutting by Hand ; with Common Spade ; German Peat Knife 108 

" with Irish Slane— System employed in East Friesland 109 

c. Machines for Cutting Peat ; Brosowsky's Machine ; Lepreux's Machine.113 

11. Dredging of Peat 115 

12. Moulding of Peat ...116 

13. Preparation of Peat-fuel by Machinery, etc 116 

A. Condensation by Pressure 116 

a. Of Fresh Peat 116 

Mannhardt's Method 117 

The Neustadt Method 119 

b. Of Air-dried Peat— Lithuanian Process 120 

c. Of Hot-dried Peat— Gwynne's Method ; Exter's Method 121 

Elsberg's Process 125 

B. Condensation without Pressure , 127 

a. Of Earthy Peat 128 

Challeton's Method, at Mennecy, France 128 

" " Langenberg, Prussia 130 

Robert's " Pekin, N. Y 132 

Siemens' " Boebllngen, Wirtemberg 134 

b. Condensation of Fibrous Peat— Weber's Method ; Hot-drying 135 

Gysser's Method and Machine 140 

c. Condensation of Peat of all Kinds— Schlickeysen's Maehine 144 

Leavitt's Peat Mill, Lexington, Mass 146 

Ashcroft & Betteley's Machine 148 

Versmann's Machine, Great Britain 150 

Buckland's " " 151 

14. Artificial Drying of Peat 152 

15. Peat Coal 157 

Ifi. Metallurgical Uses of Peat .- 162 

17. Peat as a Source of Illuminating Gas 165 

IS. Examination of Peat with regard to its Value as Fuel 167 



INTEODUCTION, 



jja&^o 



In the years 1857 and 1858, the writer, in the capacity of Chem- 
ist to the State Agricultural Society of Connecticut, was commis.- 
sioned to make investigations into the agricultural uses of the de- 
posits of peat or swamp muck which are abundant in this State ; and, 
in 1858, he submitted a Report to Henry A. Dyer, Esq., Correspond- 
ing Secretary of the Society, embodying his conclusions. In the 
present work the valuable portions of that Report have been recast, 
and, with addition of much new matter, form Parts I. and II. The 
remainder of the book, relating to the preparation and employment 
of peat for fuel, &c., is now for the first time published, and is in- 
tended to give a faithful account of the results of the experience 
that has been acquired in Europe, during the last twenty-five years, 
in regard to the important subject of which it treats. 

The employment of peat as an amendment and absorbent for ag- 
ricultural purposes has proved to be of great advantage in New- 
England farming. 

It is not to be doubted, that, as fuel, it will be even more valuable • 
than as a fertilizer. Our peat-beds, while they do not occupy so 
much territory as to be an impediment and a reproach to our coun- 
try, as they have been to Ireland, are yet so abundant and so widely 
distributed — occurring from the Atlantic to the Missouri, along 
and above the 40th parallel, and appearing on our Eastern Coast 
at least as far South as North Carolina * — as to present, at num- 
berless points, material, which, sooner or later, will serve us most 
usefully when other fuel has become scarce and costly. 

The high prices which coal and wood have commanded for sev- 
eral years back have directed attention to peat fuel ; and, such is 
the adventurous character of American enterprise, it cannot be 

* The great Dismal Swamp is a grand peat bog, and doubtless ottier of the 
swamps of the coast, as far south as Florida and the Gulf, are of the same 
character. 



VIII INTRODUCTION. 

doubted that we shall rapidly develop and improve the machinery 
for producing it. As has always been the case, we shall waste a 
vast deal of time and money in contriving machines that violate 
every principle of mechanism and of economy ; but the results of 
European invention furnish a safe basis from which to set out, and 
we have among us the genius and the patience that shall work out 
the perfect method. 

It may well be urged that a good degree of caution is advisable 
in entering upon the peat enterprise. In this country we have ex- 
haustless mines of the best coal, which can be afforded at a very low 
rate, with which other fuel must compete. In Germany, where the 
best methods of working peat have originated, fuel is more costly 
than here ; and a universal and intense economy there prevails, of 
which we, as a people, have no conception. 

If, as the Germans themselves admit, the peat question there is 
still a nice one as regards the test of dollars and cents, it is obvious, 
that, for a time, we must " hasten slowly." It is circumstances that 
make peat, and gold as well, remunerative or otherwise ; and these 
must be well considered in each individual case. Peat is the name 
for a material that varies extremely in its quality, and this quality 
should be investigated carefully before going to work upon general 
deductions. 

In my account of the various processes for working peat by ma- 
chinery, such data as I have been able to find have been given as 
to cost of production. These data are however very imperfect, and 
not altogether trustworthy, in direct application to American con- 
ditions. The cheapness of labor in Europe is an item to our dis- 
advantage in interpreting foreign estimates. I incline to the belief 
that this is more than offset among us by the quality of our labor, 
by the energy of our administration, by the efficiency of our over- 
seeing, and, especially, by our greater skill in the adaptation of 
mechanical appliances. While counselling caution, I also recom- 
mend enterprise in developing our resources in this important par- 
ticular ; knowing full well, however, that what I can say in its 
favor will scarcely add to the impulse already apparent among my 
countrymen. 

Samuel W. Johnson. 

Sheffield Scientific ScJiool, ) 
Yale College, June, 1866. j 



PAET I. 

THE ORIGIN, VARIETIES, AND CHEMICAL CHAR- 
ACTERS OF PEAT. 



1. What is Peat? 

By the general term Peat, we understand the organic 
matter or vegetable soil of bogs, swamps, beaver-meadows 
and salt-marshes. 

It consists of substances that have resulted from the 
decay of many generations of aquatic or marsh plants, 
as mosses, sedges, coarse grasses, and a great variety of 
shrubs, mixed with more or less mineral substances, 
derived from these plants, or in many cases blown or 
washed in from the surrounding lands. 

2. The conditions under which Peat is formed. 

In this country the production of Peat from fallen and 
decaying plants, depends upon the presence of so much 
water as to cover or saturate the vegetable matters, and 
thereby hinder the full access of air. Saturation with 
water also has the effect to maintain the decaying matters 
1* 



10 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

at a low temperature, and by these two causes in combi- 
nation, the process of decay is made to proceed with 
great slowness, and the solid products of such slow de- 
cay, are compounds that themselves resist decay, and 
hence they accumulate. 

In the United States there appears to be nothing like 
the extensive moors or heaths^ that abound in Ireland, 
Scotland, the north of England, North Germany, Holland, 
and the elevated plains of Bavaria, which are mostly 
level or gently sloping tracts of country, covered with 
peat or turf to a depth often of 20, and sometimes of 40, 
or more, feet. In this country it is only in low places, 
where streams become obstructed and form swamps, or in 
bays and inlets on salt water, where the flow of the tide 
furnishes the requisite moisture, that our peat-beds occur. 
If we go north-east as far as Anticosti, Labrador, or New- 
foundland, we find true moors. In these regions have been 
found a few localities of the Heather {Calluna vulgaris)^ 
which is so conspicuous a plant on the moors of Europe, 
but which is wanting in the peat-beds of the United 
States. 

In the countries above named, the weather is more uni- 
form than here, the air is more moist, and the excessive 
heat of our summers is scarcely known. Such is the 
greater humidity of the atmosphere that the bog-mosses, 
— the so-called Sphagnums^ — which have a wonderful 
avidity for moisture, (hence used for packing plants 
which require to be kept moist on journeys), are able to 
keep fresh and in growth during the entire summer. 
These mosses decay below, and throw out new vegetation 
above, and thus produce a bog, especially wherever the 
earth is springy. It is in this way that in those countries, 
moors and peat-bogs actually grow, increasing in depth 
and area, from year to year, and raise themselves above 
the level of the surrounding country. 



OEIGIN ANT) VARIETIES. 11 

Prof. Marsh informs the writer that he has seen in Ire- 
land, near the north-west coast, a granite hill, capped 
with a peat-bed, several feet in thickness. In the Bavari- 
an highlands similar cases have been observed, in locali- 
ties where the atmosphere and the ground are kept moist 
enough for the growth of moss by the extraordinary prev- 
alence of fogs. Many of the European moors rise more 
or less above the level of their borders towards the centre, 
often to a height of 10 or 20 and sometimes of 30 feet. 
They are hence known in Germany as high moors {Hoch- 
moore) to distinguish from the level or dishing meadow- 
moors^ (Wiesenmoore.) The peat-producing vegetation 
of the former is chiefly moss and heather, of the latter 
coarse grasses and sedges. 

In Great Britain the reclamation of a moor is usually 
an expensive operation, for which not only much drain- 
ing, but actual cutting out and burning of the compact 
peat is necessary. 

The warmth of our summers and the aryness of our 
atmosphere prevent the accumulation of peat above the 
highest level of the standing water of our marshes, and 
so soon as the marshes are well drained, the peat ceases 
to form, and in most cases the swamp may be easily con- 
verted into good meadow land. 

Springy hill-sides, which in cooler, moister climates 
would become moors, here dry up in summer to such an 
extent that no peat can be formed upon them. 

As already observed, our peat is found in low places. 
In many instances its accumulation began by the obstruc- 
tion of a stream. To that remarkable creature, the bea- 
ver, we owe many of our peat-bogs. These anunals, from 
time immemorial, have built their dams across rivers so as 
to flood the adjacent forest. In the rich leaf-mold at the 
water's verge, and in the cool shade of the standing trees, 
has begun the growth of the sphagnums, sedges, and va- 



12 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

rious purely aquatic jDlants. These in their annual decay 
have shortly filled the shallow borders of the stagnating 
water, and by slow encroachments, going on through 
many years, they have occupied the deeper portions, aided 
by the trees, which, perishing, give their fallen branches 
and trunks, towards completing the work. The trees de- 
cay and fall, and become entirely converted into peat ; or, 
as not unfrequently happens, especially in case of resinous 
woods, preserve thek form, and to some extent their 
soundness. 

In a similar manner, ponds and lakes are encroached up- 
on ; or, if shallow, entirely filled up by peat deposits. In the 
Great Forest of Northern New York, the voyager has 
abundant opportunity to observe the formation of peat- 
swamps, both as a result of beaver dams, and of the fill- 
ing of shallow ponds, or the narrowing of level river 
courses. The formation of peat in water of some depth 
greatly depends upon the growth of aquatic plants, other 
than those already mentioned. In our Eastern States the 
most conspicuous are the Arrow-head, {SagittaHa) ; the 
Pickerel Weed, {Pontederia ;) Duck Meat, {Lemna ;) 
Pond Weed, {Potamogeton ;) various Polygonums, 
brothers of Buckwheat and Smart-weed; and especi- 
ally the Pond Lilies, {Nymphma and Nuphar.) The 
latter grow in water four or five feet deep, their 
leaves and long stems are thick and fleshy, and their 
roots, which fill the oozy mud, are often several inches in 
diameter. Their decaying leaves and stems, and their 
huge roots, living or dead, accumulate below and gradu- 
ally raise the bed of the pond. Their living foliage which 
often covers the water almost completely for acres, be- 
comes a shelter or support for other more delicate aquatic 
plants and sphagnums, which, creeping out from the 
shore, may so develop as to form a floating carpet, 
whereon the leaves of the neighboring wood, and dust 



ORIGIN AND VARIETIES. 13 

scattered by the wind collect, bearing down the mass, 
which again increases above, or is reproduced until the 
water is filled to its bottom with vegetable matter. 

It is not rare to find in our bogs, patches of moss of 
considerable area concealing deep water with a treacher- 
ous appearance of solidity, as the hunter and botanist 
have often found to their cost. In countries of more 
humid atmosphere, they are more common and attain 
greater dimensions. In Zealand the surfaces of ponds are 
so frequently covered with floating beds of moss, often 
stout enough to bear a man, that they have there received 
a special name '''' Sangesak.'^'' In the Russian Ural, there 
occur lakes whose floating covers of moss often extend 
five or six feet above the water, and are so firm that roads 
are made across them, and forests of large fir-trees find 
support. These immense accumulations are in fact float- 
ing moors, consisting entirely of peat, save the living veg- 
etation at the surface. 

Sometimes these floating peat-beds, bearing trees, are 
separated by winds from their connection with the shore, 
and become swimming peat islands. In a small lake near 
Eisenach, in Central Germany, is a swimming island of 
this sort. Its diameter is 40 rods, and it consists of a 
felt-like mass of peat, three to five feet in depth, covered 
above by sphagnuras and a great variety of aquatic plants. 
A few birches and dwarf firs grow in this peat, binding it 
together by their roots, and when the wind blows, they 
act as sails, so that the island is constantly moving about 
upon the lake. 

On the Neusiedler lake, in Hungary, is said to float a 
peat island having an area of six square miles, and on 
lakes of the high Mexican Plateau are similar islands 
which, long ago, were converted in fruitful gardens. 



14 - PEAT AND ITS USES. 

3. The differe7it hinds of Peat. 

Very great differences in the characters of the deposits 
in our peat-beds are observable. These differences are 
partly of color, some peats being gray, others red, others 
again black; the majority, when dry, possess a dark 
brown-red or snuff color. They also vary remarkably in 
weight and consistency. Some are compact, destitute of 
fibres or other traces of the vegetation from which they 
have been derived, and on drying, shrink greatly and yield 
tough dense masses which burn readily, and make an ex- 
cellent fuel. Others again are light and porous, and re- 
main so on drying; these contain intermixed vegetable 
matter that is but little advanced in the peaty decomposi- 
tion. Some peats are almost entirely free from mineral 
matters, and on burning, leave but a few joer cent, of ash, 
others contain considerable quantities of lime or iron, in 
chemical combination, or of sand and clay that have been 
washed in from the hills adjoining the swamps. As has 
been observed, the peat of some swamps is mostly derived 
from mosses, that of others originates largely from grasses; 
some contain much decayed wood and leaves, others again 
are free from these. 

In the same swamp we usually observe more or less of 
all these differences. We find the surface peat is light 
and full of partly decayed vegetation, while below, the 
deposits are more compact. We commonly can trace dis- 
tinct strata or layers of peat, which are often very unlike 
each other in appearance and quality, and in some cases 
the light and compact layers alternate so that the former 
are found below the latter. 

The light and porous kinds of peat appear in general 
to be formed in shallow swamps or on the surface of bogs, 
where there is considerable access of air to the decaying 
matters, while the compactor, older, riper peats are found 



ORIGIN AND VARIETIES. 15 

at a depth, and seem to have been formed beneath the low 
water mark, m more complete exclusion of the atmos- 
phere, and under a considerable degree of pressure. 

The nature of the vegetation that flourishes in a bog, 
has much effect on the character of the peat. The peats 
chiefly derived from mosses that have grown in the full 
sunlight, have a yellowish-red color in their upper layers, 
which usually becomes darker as we go down, running 
through all shades of brown until at a considerable depth 
it is black. Peats produced principally from grasses are 
grayish in appearance at the surface, being full of silvery 
fibres — the skeletons of the blades of grasses and sedges, 
while below they are commonly black. 

Moss peat is more often fibrous in structure, and when 
dried forms somewhat elastic masses. Grass peat^ when 
taken a little below the surface, is commonly destitute of 
fibres ; when wet, is earthy in its look, and dries to dense 
hard lum23S. 

Where mosses and grasses have grown together simul- 
taneously in the same swamp, the peat is modified in its 
characters accordingly. Where, as may happen, grass 
succeeds moss, or moss succeeds grass, the different layers 
reveal their origin by their color and texture. At consid- 
erable depths, however, where the peat is very old, these 
differences nearly or entirely disappear. 

The geological character of a country is not without 
influence on the kind of peat. It is only in regions where 
the rocks are granitic or silicious, where, at least, the sur- 
face waters are free or nearly free from lime, that mosses 
make the bulk of the peat. 

In limestone districts, peat is chiefly formed from grasses 
and sedges. 

This is due to the fiict that mosses (sphagnums) need 
little lime for their growth, while the grasses require much ; 



16 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

aquatic grasses cannot, therefore, thrive in pure waters, and 
in waters containing the requisite proportion of Ume, 
grasses and sedges choke out the moss. 

The accidental admixtures of soil often greatly affect 
the appearance and value of a peat, but on the whole it 
would appear that its quality is most influenced by the de- 
gree of decomposition it has been subjected to. 

In meadows and marshes, overflowed by the ocean 
tides, we have salt-peat^ formed from Sea-weeds {Algoe^) 
Salt-wort {Salicornia,) and a great variety of marine or 
strand-plants. In its upper portions, salt-peat is coarsely 
fibrous from the grass roots, and dark-brown in color. 
At suflicient depth it is black and destitute of fibres. 

The fact that peat is fibrous in texture shows that it is 
of comparatively recent formation, or that the decomposi- 
tion has been arrested before reaching its later stages. 
Fibrous peat is found near the surface, and as we dig 
down into a very deep bed we find almost invariably that 
the fibrous structure becomes less and less evident until 
at a certain depth it entirely disappears. 

It is not depth simply, but age or advancement in de- 
composition, which determines these differences of tex- 
ture. 

The " ripest," most perfectly formed peat, that in which 
the peaty decomposition has reached its last stage, — 
which, in Germany, is termed pitchy-peat or fat peat, 
{Pechtorf SpecJctorf) — is dark-brown or black in color, 
and comparatively heavy and dense. When moist, it is 
firm, sticky and coherent almost like clay, may be cut and 
moulded to any shape. Dried, it becomes hard, and on a 
cut or burnished surface takes a luster like wax or pitch. 

In Holland, West Friesland, Holstein, Denmark and 
Pomerania, a so-called mud-peat ( Schlammtorf also Bag- 
gertorf and Streichtorf) is " fished up" from the bottoms 



ORIGIN AND VARIETIES. 17 

of ponds, as a black mud or paste, which, on drying, be- 
comes hard and dense hke the pitchy-peat. 

The two varieties of peat last named are those which 
are most prized as fuel in Europe. 

Vitriol peat is peat of any kind impregnated with sul- 
phate of iron (copperas,) and sulphate of alumina, (the 
astringent ingredient of alum.) 

JSwamp Muck. — In New England, the vegetable remains 
occurring in swamps, etc., are commonly called Mitch 
In proper English usage, muck is a general term for ma- 
nure of any sort, and has no special applicatioxi to the 
contents of bogs. With us, however, this meaning ap- 
pears to be quite obsolete, though in our agricultural lit- 
erature — ^formerly, more than now, it must be admitted, 
— the word as applied to the subject of our treatise, has 
been qualified as Swamp Muck. 

In Germany, peat of whatever character, is designated 
by the single word Tor// in France it is Tourbe, and of 
the same origin is the word Turf, applied to it in Great 
Britain. With us turf appears never to have had this 
signification. 

Peat, no doubt, is a correct name for the substance 
which results from the decomposition of vegetable mat- 
ters under or saturated with water, whatever its appear- 
ance or properties. There is, however, with us, an incli- 
nation to apply this word particularly to those purer and 
more compact sorts which are adapted for fuel, while to the 
lighter, less decomposed or more weathered kinds, and to 
those which are considerably intermixed with soil or silt, 
the term muck or swamp muck is given. These distinc- 
tions are not, indeed, always observed, and, in fact, so 
great is the range of variation in the quality of the sub- 
stance, that it would be impossible to draw a line where 
muck leaves off and peat begins. Notwithstanding, a 



18 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

rough distinction is better than none, and we shall there- 
fore employ the two terms when any greater clearness 
of meaning can be thereby conveyed. 

It happens, that in New England, the number of small 
shallow swales, that contain unripe or impure peat, is 
much greater than that of large and deep bogs. Their 
contents are therefore more of the " mucky " than of the 
" peaty " order, and this may partly account for New Eng- 
land usage in regard to these old English words. 

By the term muck, some farmers understand leaf-mold 
(decayed leaves), esi^ecially that which collects in low and 
wet places. When the deposit is deep and saturated 
with water, it may have all the essential characters of 
peat. Ripe peat, from such a source is, however, so far 
as the writer is informed, unknown to any extent in this 
country. We might distinguish as leaf-inuclc the leaves 
which have decomposed imder or saturated with water, 
retaining the well established term leaf-mold to designate 
the dry or drier covering of the soil in a dense forest of 
deciduous trees. 

Salt-mud.- — In the marshes, bays, and estuaries along 
the sea-shore, accumulate large quantities of fine silt, 
brought down by rivers or deposited from the sea-water, 
which are more or less mixed with finely divided peat or 
partly decomposed vegetable matters, derived largely 
from Sea-weed, and in many cases also with animal re- 
mains (mussels and other shell-fish, crabs, and myriads of 
minute organisms.) This black mud has great value as a 
fertilizer. 

« 
4. The Chemical Characters and Composition of Peat. 

The process of burning, demonstrates that peat consists 
of two kinds of substance ; one of which, the larger por- 



CHEMICAL CHARACTERS. 19 

tion, is combustible, and is organic or vegetable matter; 
the other, smaller portion, remaining indestructible by 
fire is inorganic matter or ash. We shall consider these 
separately. 

{a) TJie or gallic or combustible part of peat varies con- 
siderably in its proximate composition. It is in fact an 
indefinite mixture of several or perhaps of many compound 
bodies, whose precise nature is little known. These bod- 
ies have received the collective names Humxis and Geine. 
We shall employ the term humus to designate this mix- 
ture, whether occurring in peat, swamp-muck, salt-mud, 
in composts, or in the arable soil. Its chemical charac- 
ters are much the same, whatever its appearance or mode 
of occurrence ; and this is to be expected since it is always 
formed from the same materials and under essentially 
similar conditions. 

JResinous and Bituminous matters. — ^If dry pulverized 
peat be agitated and warmed for a short time with alco- 
hol, there is usually extracted a small amount of resinous 
and sometimes of bituminous matters, which are of no 
account in the agricultural applications of peat, but have 
a bearing on its value as fuel. 

Ulmic and Humic acids. — On boiling what remains 
from the treatment with alcohol, with a weak solution of 
carbonate of soda (sal-soda), we obtain a yellowish-brown 
or black liquid. This liquid contains certain acid ingre- 
dients of the peat which become soluble by entering into 
chemical combination with soda. 

On adding to the solution strong vinegar, or any other 
strong acid, there separates a bulky brown or black sub- 
stance, which, after a time, subsides to the bottom of the 
vessel as a precipitate, to use a chemical term, leaving the 
liquid of a more or less yellow tinge. This deposit, if 
obtained from light brown peat, is ulmic acid ; if from 



20 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

black peat, it is humic acid. These acids, when in the 
precipitated state, are insoluble in vinegar; but when 
this is washed away, they are considerably soluble in water. 
They are, in fact, modified by the action of the soda, so as 
to acquire much greater solubility in water than they oth- 
erwise possess. On drying the bulky bodies thus obtained, 
brown or black lustrous masses result, which have much 
the appearance of coal. 

Ulmin and Sumin. — After extracting the peat with 
solution of carbonate of soda, it still contains ulmin or 
humin. These bodies cannot be obtained in the pure 
state from peat, since they are mixed with more or less 
partially decomposed vegetable matters from which they 
cannot be separated without suffering chemical change. 
They have been procured, however, by the action of mu- 
riatic acid on sugar. They are indifferent in their chemi- 
cal characters, are insoluble in water and in solution of 
carbonate of soda; but upon heating with solution of 
hydrate of soda they give dark-colored liquids, being in 
fact converted by this treatment into ulmic and humic 
acids, respectively, with which they are identical in com- 
position. 

The terms ulmic and humic acids do not refer each to a 
single compound, but rather to a group of bodies of close- 
ly similar appearance and properties, which, however, do 
differ slightly in their characteristics, and differ also in 
composition by containing more or less of oxygen and 
hydrogen in equal equivalents. 

After complete extraction with hydrate of soda, there 
remains more or less undecomposed vegetable matter, to- 
gether with san'd and soil, were these contained in the peat. 

Crenic and apocrenic acids. — From the usually yellow- 
ish liquid out of which the ulmic and humic acids have 
been separated, may further be procured by appropriate 



CHEMICAL CHARACTERS. 21 

chemical means, not needful to be detailed here, two 
other bodies which bear the names respectively of Grenic 
' Acid and Apocrenic Acid. These acids were discovered 
by Berzelius, the great Swedish chemist, in the water 
and sediment of the Porla spring, in Sweden. 

By the action upon peat of carbonate of ammonia, 
which is generated to some extent in the decay of vegeta- 
ble matters and is also absorbed from the air, ulmic and 
humic acids are made soluble, and combine with the am- 
monia as well as with lime, oxide of iron, etc. In some 
cases the ulmates and humates thus produced may be ex- 
tracted from the peat by water, and consequently occur 
dissolved in the water of the swamp from which the peat 
is taken, giving it a yellow or brown color. 

Ulmates and Humates. — Of considerable interest to us 
here, are the properties of the compounds of these acids, 
that may be formed in peat when it is used as an ingre- 
dient of composts. The ulmates and humates of the al- 
kalies, viz. : potash., soda., and ammonia., dissolve readily 
in water. They are formed when the alkalies or their 
carbonates act on ulmin and humin, or upon ulmates or 
humates of lime, iron, etc. Their dilute solutions are yel- 
low, or brown. 

The ulmates and humates of lime^ magnesia^ oxide of 
iron^ oxide of m,anganese and alum^ina^ are insoluble, or 
nearly so in water. 

In ordinary soils, the earths and oxides just named, pre- 
dominate over the alkalies, and although they may contain 
considerable ulmic and humic acids, water is able to ex- 
tract but very minute quantities of the latter, on account 
of the insolubility of the compounds they have formed. 

On the other hand, peat, highly manured garden soil, leaf- 
mold, rotted manure and composts, yield yellow or brown 
extracts with water, from the fact that alkalies are here 
present to form soluble compounds. 



22 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

An important fact established by Mulder is, that when 
solutions of alkali-carbonates are put in contact with the 
insoluble ulmates and humates, the latter are decompos- ' 
ed ; soluble alkali-ulmates and humates being formed, and 
in these^ a portion of the otherioise insoluble ulmates and 
humates dissolve^ so that thus, in a compost, lime, magne- 
sia, oxide of iron, and even alumina may exist in soluble 
combinations, by the agency of these acids. 

Crenates and Apocrenates. — The ulmic and humic acids 
when separated from their compounds, are nearly insolu- 
ble, and, so far as we know, comparatively inert bodies ; 
by further change, (uniting with oxygen) they pass into 
or yield the crenic and apocrenic acids which, according to 
Mulder, have an acid taste, being freely soluble in water, 
and in all respects, decided acids. The compounds of 
both these acids with the alkalies are soluble. The cre- 
nates of lime, magnesia, and protoxide of iron are soluble, 
crenates of peroxide of iron and of oxide of manganese 
are but very slightly soluble ; crenate of alumina is inso- 
luble. The apocrenates of iron and manganese are slight- 
ly soluble ; those of lime, magnesia, and alumina are in- 
soluble. All the insoluble crenates and apocrenates, are 
soluble in solutions of the corresponding salts of the al- 
kalies. 

Application of these facts will be given in subsequent 
paragraphs. It may be here remarked, that the crenate 
of protoxide of iron is not unfrequently formed in con- 
siderable quantity in peat-bogs, and dissolving in the wa- 
ter of springs gives them a chalybeate character. 
Copious springs of this kind occur at the edge of a peat- 
bed at Woodstock, Conn., which are in no small repute 
for their medicinal qualities, having a tonic effect from the 
iron they contain. Such waters, on exposure to the air, 
shortly absorb oxygen, and the substance is thereby con- 



CHEMICAL CHARACTERS. 23 

verted into crenate and afterwards into apocrenate of perox- 
ide of iron, which, being bnt slightly soluble, or insoluble, 
separates as a yellow or brown ochreous deposit along the 
course of the water. By further exposure to air the 
organic acid is oxidized to carbonic acid, and hydrated 
oxide of iron remains. Bog-iron ore appears often to have 
originated in this way. 

Gein and Geic acid. — Mulder formerly believed an- 
other substance to exist in peat which he called Gein^ and 
from this by the action of alkalies he supposed geic acid 
to be formed. In his later writings, however, he expresses 
doubt as to the existence of such a substance, and we may 
omit further notice of it, especially since, if it really do 
occur, its properties are not distinct from those of humic 
acid. 

We should not neglect to remark, however, that the 
word gein has been employed by some writers in the sense 
in which we use humus, viz. : to denote the brown or 
black products of the decomposition of vegetable matters. 

It is scarcely to be doubted that other organic com- 
pounds exist in peat. As yet, however, we have no 
knowledge of any other ingredients, Avhile it appears cer- 
tain that those we have described are its chief constitu- 
ents, and give it its peculiar properties. With regard to 
them it must nevertheless be admitted, that our chemical 
knowledge is not entirely satisfactory, and new investiga- 
tions are urgently demanded to supply the deficiencies of 
the researches so ably made by Mulder, more than twenty 
years ago. 

Elementary Composition of Peat. 

After this brief notice of those organic com,pounds that 
have been recognized in or produced from peat, we may 
give attention to the elementary composition of peat itself. 



24 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



Like that of the vegetation from which it originates, 
the organic part of peat consists of Carbon, Hydrogen, 
Oxygen and Nitrogen. In the subjoined table are given 
the projjortions of these elements as found in the combus- 
tible part of sj^hagnum, of several kinds of wood, and in 
that of a number of peats in various stages of ripeness. 
They are arranged in the order of their content of carbon. 





Analyst. 


Car- 
bon. 


Hydro- 
gen. 


Oxy- 
gen. 


Nitro- 
gen. 


1— Sphagnum, "l 
iztea^?'^^' -decomposed. 
4-Oak " J 


Websky 


49.88 


6.54 


42.42 


1.16 


Chevandier 


49.90 
50.30 


6.10 
6.30 


43.10 
42.40 


0.90 
1.00 


" 


50.60 


6.00 


42.10 


1.30 


5— Peat, porous, light-brown, sphagnous 


Websky 
Jaeckel 


50.8(5 
53.51 


5.80 
5.90 


42.57 


0.77 


6— " porous, red-brown. 

7 — " heavy, brown. 


40.59 


" 


56.43 


5.32 


38.25 


8— " dark red-brown, well decomposed 


Websky 


59.47 


6.52 


31.51 2.51 


&— " black, very dense and hard. 




59.70 


5.70 


33.04 1.56 


10— " black, heavj% ) best quality for 
n— " brown, heavy, ) fuel. 


" 


59.71 


5.27 


32.07 2..59 


" 


62.54 


6.81 


29.24 1.41 



From this table it is seen that sphagnum, and the wood 
of our forest trees are very similar in composition, though 
not identical. Further, it is seen from analyses 1 and 5, 
that in the first stages of the conversion of sphagnum into 
peat — which are marked by a change of color, but in 
which the form of the sphagnum is to a considerable ex- 
tent preserved — but little alteration occurs in ultimate 
composition; about one per cent, of carbon being gained, 
and one of hydrogen lost. We notice in running down 
the columns that as the peat becomes heavier and darker 
in color, it also becomes richer in carbon and Doorer in 
oxygen. Hydrogen varies but slightly. 

As a general statement we may say that the ripest and 
heaviest peat contains 10 or 12 per ee7it. more carbon and 
10 or 12 per cent, less oxygen than the vegetable matter 
from which it is produced ; while between the unaltered 
vegetation and the last stage of humification, the peat 
runs through an indefinite number of intermediate stages. 



Carbon. 


Hydrogen. 


Oxygen. 


..67.10.., 


4.20.... 


....28.70 


...61.10.., 


4.30.... 


....34.60 


..56.47... 


2.74.... 


....40.78 


..45.70... 


4.80.... 


....49.50 



CHEMICAL CHARACTERS. 25 

Nitrogen is variable, but, in general, the older peats 
contain the most. To this topic we shall shortly recur, 
and now pass on to notice — 

The ultimate composition of the compounds of which 
peat consists. 

Below are tabulated analyses of the organic acids of 
peat : — 

Ulmic acid, artificial from sugar . . 
Humic acid, from Frisian peat — 

Crenic acid 

Apocrenic acid 

It is seen that the amount of carbon diminishes from 
ulmic acid to apocrenic, that of oxygen increases in the 
same direction and to the same extent, viz. : about 21 per 
cent.., while the hydrogen remains nearly the same in all. 

{h) The mineral part of peat, which remains as ashes 
when the organic matters are burned away, is variable in 
quantity and composition. Usually a portion of sand or 
soil is found in it, and this not unfrequently constitutes its 
larger portion. Some peats leave on burning much car- 
bonate of lime ; others chiefly sulphate of lime ; the ash 
of others again is mostly oxyd of iron ; silicic, and phos- 
phoric acids, magnesia, potash, soda, alumina and chlorine, 
also occur in small quantities in the ash of all peats. 

With one exception (alumina) all these bodies are im- 
portant ingredients of agricultural plants. 

In some rare instances, peats are found, which are so 
impregnated with soluble sulphates of iron and alumina, 
as to yield these salts to water in large quantity ; and 
sulphate of iron (green vitriol,) has actually been manu- 
factured fi'om such peats, which in consequence have been 
characterized as vitriol peats. 
2 



26 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

Those bases (lime, oxide of iron, etc.,) which are found 
as carbonates or simple oxides in the ashes, exist in the 
peat itself in combination with the humic and other or- 
ganic acids. When these compounds are destroyed by 
burning, the bases remain united to carbonic acid. 

5. — Chemical Changes that occur in the formation of 
Feat. When a plant perishes, its conversion into humus 
usually begins at once. When exposed to the atmosphere, 
the oxygen of the air attacks it, uniting with its carbon 
producing carbonic acid gas, and with its hydrogen gen- 
erating water. This action goes on, though slowly, even 
at some depth under water, because the latter dissolves 
oxygen from the air in small quantity,* and constantly 
resupplies itself as rapidly as the gas is consumed. 

Whether exposed to the air or not, the organic matter 
suffers internal decomposition, and portions of its elements 
assume the gaseous or liquid form. We have seen that 
ripe peat is 10 to \2 per cent, richer in carbon and equally 
poorer in oxygen, than the vegetable matters from which 
it originates. Organic matters, in passing into peat, lose 
carbon and nitrogen ; but they lose oxygen more rapidly 
than the other two elements, and hence the latter become 
relatively more abundant. The loss of hydrogen is such 
that its proportion to the other elements is but little 
altered. 

The bodies that separate from the decomposing vege- 
table matter are carbonic acid gas, carburetted hydro- 
gen (marsh gas), nitrogen gas, and water. 

Carbonic acid is the most abundant gaseous product of 
the peaty decomposition. Since it contains nearly IZ per 
cent, of oxygen and but 27 per cent, of carbon, it is ob- 

* The oxygen thus absorbed by water, serves for the respiration of fish and 
aquatic animals. 



CHEMICAL CHARACTERS. 27 

vions that by its escape the proportion of carbon in the 
residual mass is increased. In the formation of water 
from the decaying matters, 1 part of hydrogen carries off 
8 parts of oxygen, and this change increases the propor- 
tion of carbon and of hydrogen. Marsh gas consists of 
one part of hydrogen to three of carbon, but it is evolved 
in comparatively small quantity, and hence has no effect 
in diminishing the per cent, of carbon. 

The gas that bubbles up through the water of a peat-bog, 
especially if the decomposing matters at the bottom be 
stirred, consists largely of marsh gas and nitrogen, often 
with but a small proportion of carbonic acid. Thus 
"Websky found in gas from a peat-bed 

Carbonic acid 2.97 

Marsh gas 43.36 

Nitrogen 53.67 

100.00 

Carbonic acid, however, dissolves to a considerable ex- 
tent in water, and is furthermore absorbed by the living 
vegetation, which is not true of marsh gas and nitrogen ; 
hence the latter escape while the former does not. Nitro- 
gen escapes in the uncombined state, as it always (or usu- 
ally) does in the decay of vegetable and animal matters 
that contain it. Its loss is, in general, slower than that of 
the other elements, and it sometimes accumulates in the 
peat in considerable quantity. A small portion of nitro- 
gen unites with hydrogen, forming ammonia, which re- 
mains combined with the humic and other acids. 



PART II. 



ON THE AGRICULTURAL USES OF PEAT AND 
SWAMP MUCK. 



After the foregoing account of the composition of peat, 
we may proceed to notice : 

1. — The characters that adapt it for agricultural icses. 

These characters are conveniently discussed under two 
heads, viz. : 

Those which render it useful in improving the texture 
and physical characters of the soil, and indirectly con- 
tribute to the nourishment of crops, — characters which 
constitute it an amendment to the soil (A); and 

Those which make it a direct fertilizer {£). 

A. — Considered as an amendment, the value of peat de- 
pends upon 

Its rem.arhahle power of absorbing and retaining 
water ^ both as a liquid and as a vapor (I) : 

Its power of absorbing ammonia (II) : 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 29 

Its effect in promoting the disintegration and solu- 
tion of mineral ingredients^ that is the stony matters of 
the soil (III) ; and 

Its influence on the temperature of the soil (IV). 

The agricultural importance of these properties of peat 
is best illustrated by considering the faults of a certain 
class of soils. 

Throughout the State of Connecticut, for instance, are 
found abundant examples of light, leachy, hungry soils, 
which consist of coarse sand or fine gravel ; are surface- 
dry in a few hours after the heaviest rains, and in the sum- 
mer drouths, are as dry as an ash-heap to a depth of sev- 
eral or many feet. 

These soils are easy to work, are ready for the plow 
early in the spring, and if well manured give fair crops hi 
wet seasons. In a dry summer, however, they yield poor- 
ly, or fail of crops entirely ; and, at the best, they require 
constant and very heavy manuring to keep them in heart. 

Crops fail on these soils from two causes, viz. ; want of 
moisture and want of food. Cultivated plants demand as 
an indispensable condition of their growth and perfection, 
to be supplied with water in certain quantities, which dif- 
fer with different crops. Buckwheat will flourish best on 
dry soils, while cranberries and rice grow in swamps. 

Our ordinary cereal, root, forage and garden crops re- 
quire a medium degree of moisture, and with us it is in 
all cases desirable that the soil be equally protected from ex- 
cess of water and from drouth. Soils must be thus situated 
either naturally, or as the result of improvement, before 
any steadily good results can be obtained in their cultiva- 
tion. The remedy for excess of water in too heavy soils, 
is thorough drainage. It is expensive, but effectual. It 
makes the earth more porous, opens and maintains chan- 



30 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

nels, through which the surplus water speedily runs off, 
and j^ermits the roots of crojjs to go down to a consider- 
able depth. 

What, let us consider, is the means of obviating the 
defects of soils that are naturally too porous, from which 
the water runs off too readily, and whose crops " burn 
up " in dry seasons ? 

In wet summers, these light soils, as we have remarked, 
are quite productive if well manured. It is then plain 
that if we could add anything to them which would re- 
tain the moisture of dews and rains in spite of the sum- 
mer-heats, our crops would be uniformly fair, provided 
the sujDply of manure were kept up. 

But why is it that light soils, need more manure than 
loamy or heavy lands ? We answer — because, in the first 
place, the rains which quickly descend through the open 
soil, wash down out of the reach of vegetation the solu- 
ble fertilizing matters, especially the nitrates, for which 
the soil has no retentive power ; and in the second place, 
from the porosity of the soil, the air has too great access, 
so that the vegetable and animal matters of manures de- 
cay too rapidly, their volatile portions, ammonia and car- 
bonic acid, escape into the atmosphere, and are in measure 
lost to the crops. From these combined causes we find 
that a heavy dressing of well-rotted stable manure, almost 
if not entirely, disappears from such soils in one season, 
so that another year the field requires a renewed applica- 
tion ; while on loamy soils the same amount of manure 
would have lasted several years, and produced each year 
a better efi'ect. 

We want then to crniend light soils by incorporating 
with them something that prevents the rains from leach- 
ing through them too rapidly, and also that renders them 
less open to the air, or absorbs and retains for the use of 
crops the volatile products of the decay of manures. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTTTRE. 31 

For these purposes, vegetable matter of some sort is 
tlie best and almost the only amendment that can be 
economically employed. In many cases a good peat or 
muck is the best form of this material, that lies at the 
farmer's command. 

I. — Its absorbent power for liquid water is well known 
to every firmer who has thrown it up in a j^ile to season 
for use. It holds the water like a sponge, and, according 
to its greater or less porosity, will retain from 50 to 100 
or more per cent, of its weight of liquid, without drip- 
ping. Nor can this water escape from it rapidly. It dries 
almost as slow^ly as clay, and a heap of it that has been 
exposed to sun and wind for a whole summer, though 
it has of course lost much water, is still distinctly wet to 
the eye and the feel a little below the surface. 

Its absorbent power for vapor of water is so great that 
more than once it has happened in Germany, that barns 
or close sheds filled with partially dried peat, such as is 
used for fuel, have been burst by the swelling of the peat 
in damp weather, occasioned by the absorption of mois- 
ture from the air. This power is further shown by the 
fact that when peat has been kept all summer long in a 
warm room, thinly spread out to the air, and has become 
like dry snuff to the feel, it still contains from 8 to Z^ per 
cent, (average 15 per cent.) of water. To dry a peat 
thoroughly, it requires to be exposed for some time to the 
temperature of boiling water. It is thus plain, as experi- 
ence has repeatedly demonstrated, that no ordinary sum- 
mer heats can dry up a soil which has had a good dress- 
ing of this material, for on the one hand, it soaks up and 
holds the rains that fall upon it, and on the other, it ab- 
sorbs the vapor of water out of the atmosphere whenever 
it is moist, as at night and in cloudy weather. 

When peat has once become air-dry., it no longer man- 
ifests this avidity for water. In drying it shrinks, loa,es 



32 PEAT AND ITS FSES. 

its porosity and requires long soaking to saturate it again. 
In the soil, however, it rarely becomes air-dry, unless in- 
deed, this may happen during long drouth with a peaty 
soil, such as results from the draining of a bog. 

II. — Absorbent power for ammonia. 

All soils that deserve to be called fertile, have the prop- 
erty of absorbing and retaining ammonia and the volatile 
matters which escape from fermenting manures, but light 
and coarse soils may be deficient in this power. Here 
again in respect to its absorptive power for ammonia, peat 
comes to our aid. 

It is easy to show by direct experiment that peat ab- 
sorbs and combines with ammonia. 

In 1858 I took a weighed quantity of air-dry peat from 
the New Haven Beaver Pond, (a specimen furnished me 
by Chauncey Goodyear, Esq.,) and poured upon it a 
known quantity of dilute solution of ammonia, and agi- 
tated the two together occasionally during 48 hours. I 
then distilled off at a boiling heat the unabsorbed ammo- 
nia and determined its quantity. This amount subtract- 
ed from that of the ammonia originally employed, gave 
the quantity of ammonia absorbed and retained by the 
peat at the temperature of boiling water. 

The peat retained ammonia to the amount of 0.95 of 
one per cent. 

I made another trial at the same time with carbonato 
of ammonia, adding excess of solution of this salt to a 
quantity of peat, and exposing it to the heat of boiling 
water, until no smell of ammonia was perceptible. The 
entire nitrogen in the peat was then determined, and it 
was found that the dry peat which originally contained 
nitrogen equivalent to 2.4 per cent, of ammonia, now 
yielded an amount corresponding to 3.7 per cent. The 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICtTLTURE. 33 

quantity of ammonia absorbed and retained at a tempera- 
ture of 212°, was thus l.Sper cent. 

This last experiment most nearly represents the true 
power of absorption; because, in fermenting manures, 
ammonia mostly occurs in the form of carbonate, and this 
is more largely retained than free ammonia, on account of 
its power of decomposing the humate of lime, forming 
with it carbonate of lime and humate of ammonia. 

The absorbent power of peat is well shown by the ana- 
lyses of three specimens, sent me in 1858, by Edwin 
Hoyt, Esq., of New Canaan, Conn. The first of these 
was the swamp muck he employed. It contained in the 
air-dry state nitrogen equivalent to 0.58 per cent, of am- 
monia. The second sample was the same muck that had 
lain under the flooring of the horse stables, and had been, 
in this way, partially saturated with urine. It contained 
nitrogen equivalent to 1.15 per cent, of ammonia. The 
third sample was, finally, the same muck composted with 
white-fish. It contained nitrogen corresponding to 1.31 
per cent, of ammonia.* 

The quantities of ammonia thus absorbed, both in the 
laboratory and field experiments are small — from 0.7 to 
1.3 per cent. The absorption is without doubt chiefly 
due to the organic matter of the peats, and in all the spec- 
imens on which these trials were made, the proportion of 
inorganic matter is large. The results therefore become 
a better expression of the power of peat, in general, to 
absorb ammonia, if we reckon them on the organic mat- 
ter alone. Calculated in this way, the organic matter of 
the Beaver Pond peat (which constitutes but 68 per cent. 
of the dry peat) absorbs 1.4 per cent, of free ammonia, 
and 1.9 per cent, of ammonia out of the carbonate of am- 
monia. 



* This sample contained also fish-bones, hence the larger content of nitrogen 
was not entirely due to absorbed ammonia. 
2* 



34 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

Similar experiments, by Anderson, on a Scotch peat, 
showed it to possess, when wet, an absorptive power of 
2 per cent.^ and, after drying in the air, it still retained 
1.5 per cent. — [Trans. Highland and Ag'l Soc'y-] 

When we consider how small an ingredient of most 
manures nitrogen is, viz. : from one-half to three-quarters 
of one per cent, in case of stable manure, and how little 
of it, in the shape of guano for instance, is usually applied 
to crops — not more than 40 to 60 lbs. to the acre, (the 
usual dressings with guano are from 250 to 400 lbs. per 
acre, and nitrogen averages but 15 per cent, of the guano), 
we at once perceive that an absorptive power of one or 
even one-half per cent, is greatly more than adequate for 
every agricultural purpose. 

III. — Peat promotes the disintegration of the soil. 

The soil is a storehouse of food for crops ; the stores it 
contains are, however, only partly available for immediate 
use. In fact, by far the larger share is locked up, as it were, 
in insoluble combinations, and only by a slow and gradual 
change can it become accessible to the plant. This change 
is largely brought about by the united action of water 
and carbonic acid gas. Nearly all the rocks and minerals 
out of which fertile soils are formed, — which therefore 
contain those inorganic matters that are essential to vege- 
table growth, — though very slowly acted on by pure wa- 
ter, are decomposed and dissolved to a much greater ex- 
tent by water, charged with carbonic acid gas. 

It is by these solvents that the formation of soil from 
broken rocks is to a great extent due. Clay is invariably 
a result of their direct action upon rocks. The efficiency 
of the soil depends greatly upon their chemical in- 
fluence. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTirRE. 35 

The only abundant source of carbonic acid in the soil, 
is decaying vegetable inatter. 

Hungry, leachy soils, from their deficiency of vegetable 
matter and of moisture, do not adequately yield their own 
native resources to the support of crops, because the con- 
ditions for converting their fixed into floating capital are 
wanting. Such soils dressed with peat or green manur- 
ed, at once acquire the power of retaining water, and 
keep that water ever charged with carbonic acid : thus not 
only the extraneous manures which the farmer applies are 
fully economized ; but the soil becomes more productive 
from its own stores of fertility which now begin to be un- 
locked and available. 

Dr. Peters, of Saxony, has made some instructive ex- 
periments that are here in point. He filled several large 
glass jars, (2| feet high and 5| inches wide) with a rather 
poor loamy sand, containing considerable humus, and 
planted in each one, June 14, 1857, an equal number of 
seeds of oats and peas. Jar No. 2 had daily passed into 
it through a tube, adapted to the bottom, about 2>\ pints 
of common air. No. 3 received daily the same bulk of a 
mixture of air and carbonic acid gas, of which the latter 
amounted to one-fourth. No. 1 remained without any 
treatment of this kind, i. e. : in just the condition of the 
soil in an open field, having no air in its pores, save that 
penetrating it from the atmosphere. On October 3, the 
plants were removed from the soil, and after drying at 
the boiling point of water, were weighed. The crops 
from the pots into which air and carbonic acid were daily 
forced, were about twice as heavy as No. 1, which re- 
mained in the ordinary condition. 

Examination of the soil further demonstrated, that in 
the last two soils, a considerably greater quantity of min- 
eral and organic matters had become soluble in water, 



36 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



than in the soil that was not artificially aerated. The ac- 
tual results are given in the table below in grammes, and 
refer to 6000 grammes of soil in each case : — 

ACTION OF CARBONIC ACID ON THE SOIL. 



Substances soluble in water, etc. 



Mineral matters . 

Potash , 

Soda 

Organic matters . . 

We i ght of Crops 



No. 1, 

Without 

Artificial 

Supply of 

Air. 



2.04 
0.07 
0.17 
2.76 

5.89 



No. 2, 
Common 

Air 
Added. 



No. 3, 

Air and 

Carbonic 

acid added 



3.71 
0.17 
0.23 
4.32 

10.49 



4.99 
0.14 
0.28 
2.43 

12.35 



It will be seen from the above that air alone exercised 
nearly as much solvent effect as the mixture of air with 
one-fourth its weight of carbonic acid ; this is doubtless, in 
part due to the fact that the air, upon entering the soil 
rich in humus, caused the abundant formation of carbonic 
acid, as will be presently shown must have been the case. 
It is, however, probable that organic acids (crenic and 
apocrenic,) and nitric acid were also produced (by oxida- 
tion,) and shared with carbonic the work of solution. 

It is almost certain, that the acids of peat exert a pow- 
erful decomposing, and ultimately solvent effect on the 
minerals of the soil ; but on this point we have no precise 
information, and must therefore be content merely to pre- 
sent the probability. This is sustained by thje fact that 
the crenic, apocrenic and humic acids, though often partly 
uncombined, are never wholly so, but usually occur united 
in part to various bases, viz. : lime, magnesia, ammonia, 
potash, alumina and oxide of iron. 

The crenic and apocrenic acids (that are formed by the 
oxidation of nlmic and humic acids,) have such decided 
acid characters, — crenic acid especially, which has a 
strongly sour taste — that we cannot well doubt their, dis- 
solvinoj action. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTTTRE. 37 

IV. — The in-fluence of peat on the temperature of light 
soils dressed with it may often be of considerable practi- 
cal importance. A light dry soil is subject to great va- 
riations of temperature, and rapidly follows the changes 
of the atmosphere from cold to hot, and from hot to cold. 
In the summer noon a sandy soil becomes so warm as to 
be hardly endurable to the feel, and again it is on such 
soils that the earliest frosts take effect. If a soil thus 
subject to extremes of temperature have a dressing of 
peat, it will on the one hand not become so warm in the 
hot day, and on the other hand it will not cool so rapidly, 
nor so much in the night ; its temperature will be ren- 
dered more uniform, and on the whole, more conducive to 
the welfare of vegetation. This regulative effect on tem- 
perature is partly due to the stores of water held by peat. 
In a hot day this water is constantly evaporating, and 
this, as all know, is a cooling process. At night the peat 
absorbs vapor of water from the air, and condenses it 
within its pores, this condensation is again accompanied 
with the evolution of heat. 

It appears to be a general, though not invariable fact, 
that dark colored soils, other things being equal, are con- 
stantly the warmest, or at any rate maintain the temper- 
ature most favorable to vegetation. It has been repeat- 
edly observed that on light-colored soils plants mature 
more rapidly, if the earth be thinly covered with a coat- 
ing of some black substance. Thus Lampadius, Professor 
in the School of Mines at Freiberg, a town situated in a 
mountainous part of Saxony, found that he could ripen 
melons, even in the coolest summers, by strewing a coat- 
ing of coal-dust an inch deep over the surface of the soil. 
In some of the vineyards of the Rhine, the powder of a 
black slate is employed to hasten the ripening of the grape. 

Girardin, an eminent French agriculturist, in a series of 
experiments on the cultivation of potatoes, found that the 



38 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

time of their ripening varied eight to fourteen days, ac- 
cording to the character of the soil. He found, on the 
25th of August, in a very dark soil, made so by the pres- 
ence of much humus or decaying vegetable matter, twenty- 
six varieties ripe ; in sandy soil but twenty, in clay nine- 
teen, and in a white lime soil only sixteen. 

It cannot be doubted then, that the effect of dressing a 
light sandy or gravelly soil with peat, or otherwise en- 
riching it in vegetable matter, is to render it warmer, in 
the sense in which that word is usually applied to soils. 
The upward range of the thermometer is not, indeed, in- 
creased, but the uniform warmth so salutary to our most 
valued crops is thereby secured. 

In the light soils stable-manure wastes too rapidly be- 
cause, for one reason, at the extremes of high tempera- 
ture, oxidation and decay proceed with great rapidity, 
and the volatile portions of the fertilizer are used up faster 
than the plant can appropriate them, so that not only are 
they wasted during the early periods of growth, but they 
are wanting at a later period when their absence may 
prove the failure of a crop. 

JB. The ingredients and qualities which make peat a 
direct fertilizer next come under discussion. We shall 
notice : 

The organic matters^ including nitrogen {ammonia 
and nitric acid) (I) : 

The inorganic or mineral ingredients (II) : 
Peculiarities in the decay of Peat (III), and 
Institute a comparison between peat and stable manure 
(IV). 

I. — ^Under this division we have to consider : 
1. The organic matters as direct food to plants. 
Thirty years ago, when Chemistry and Vegetable Phys- 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 39 

iology began to be applied to Agriculture, the opinion 
was firmly held among scientific men, that the organic 
parts of humus — by which we understand decayed veg- 
etable matter, such as is found to a greater or less extent 
in all good soils, and abounds in many fertile ones, such 
as constitutes the leaf-mold of forests, such as is produced 
in the fermenting of stable manure, and that forms the 
principal part of swamp-muck and peat, — are the true 
nourishment of vegetation, at any rate of the higher or- 
ders of plants, those which supply food to man and to 
domestic animals. 

In 1840, Liebig, in his celebrated treatise on the "Ap- 
plications of Chemistry to Agriculture and Physiology," 
gave as his opinion that these organic bodies do not nour- 
ish vegetation except by the products of their decay. He 
asserted that they cannot enter the plant directly, but 
that the water, carbonic acid and ammonia resulting from 
their decay, are the substances actually imbibed by plants, 
and from these alone is built up the organic or combusti- 
ble part of vegetation. 

To this day there is a division of opinion among scien- 
tific men on this subject, some adopting the views of Lie- 
big, others maintaining that certain soluble organic mat- 
ters, viz., crenic and apocrenic acids are proper food of 
plants. 

On the one hand it has been abundantly demonstrated 
that these organic matters are not at all essential to the 
growth of agricultural plants, and can constitute but a 
small part of the actual food of vegetation taken in the 
aggregate. 

On the other hand, we are acquainted with no satisfac- 
tory evidence that the soluble organic matters of the soil 



40 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

and of peat, especially the crenates and apocrenates, are 
not actually appropriated by, and, so far as they go, are 
not directly serviceable as food to plants. 

Be this as it may, practice has abundantly demonstrat- 
ed the value of humus as an ingredient of the soil, and 
if not dii-ectly, yet indirectly, it furnishes the material out 
of which plants build up their parts. 

2. The organic matters of peat as indirect food to 
plants. Very nearly one-half, by weight, of our common 
crops, when perfectly dry, consists of carbon. The sub- 
stance which supplies this element to plants is the gas, 
carbonic acid. Plants derive this gas mostly from the at- 
mosphere, absorbing it by means of their leaves. But 
the free atmosphere, at only a little space above the soil, 
contains on the average but 2 Ao of its bulk of this gas, 
whereas plants flourish in air containing a larger quantity, 
and, in fact, their other wants being supplied, they grow 
better as the quantity is increased to tV the bulk of the 
air. These considerations make sufficiently obvious how 
important it is that the soil have in itself a constant and 
abundant source of carbonic acid gas. As before said, 
organic matter., in a state of decay., is the single material 
which the farmer can incorporate with his soil in order 
to make the latter a supply of this most indispensable 
form of plant-food. 

When organic matters decay in the soil, their carbon 
ultimately assumes the form of Carbonic acid. This gas, 
constantly exhaling from the soil, is taken up by the foli- 
age of the crops, and to some extent is absorbed likewise 
by their roots. 

Boussingault & Lewy have examined the air inclosed in 
the interstices of various soils, and invariably found it 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 



41 



much richer (10 to 400 times) than that of the atmosphere 
above. Here follow some of their results : 



CARBONIC ACID IN SOILS. 



Designation and Conditio7i of Soil. 


Volumes of Car- 
bonic acid in 100 
of air in pores of 
Soil. 




Cubicfeet Of Car- 
bonic acid in acre 
to depth of 14 
inches. 


Sandy subsoil of forest 


0.24 
0.82 
0.86 
0.66 
0.79 
1..^ 
2.21 
9.74 
3.64 

|§S 

^1^ 


4,326 

i 3,458 
! 5,768 
10,094 
10,948 
10,948 
11,536 
11,536 
20,608 

ill 




Loamy " " " 


28 
56 
71 




Clayey soil of artichoke field " 

Soil of asparagus bed, unmanured for one year 


" " " " newly manured 

Sandy soil, six days after manuring, and tliree days of rain. . 
" ten " " " " " '^ " " .. 
Compost of vegetable mold 


172 

257 

mi 

111! 


Carbonic Acid in Atmosphere. 




0.025 


50,820 1 14 



From the above it is seen that in soils containinsc little 
decomposing organic matters — as the forest sub-soils — 
the quantity of carbonic acid is no greater than that con- 
tained in an equal bulk of the atmosphere. It is greater 
in loamy and clayey soils ; but is still small. In the arti- 
choke field (probably light soil not lately manured), and 
even in an asparagus bed unmanured for one year, the 
amount of carbonic acid is not greatly larger. In newly 
manured fields, and especially in a vegetable compost, 
the quantity is vastly greater. 

The organic matters which come from manures, or 
from the roots and other residues of crops, are the source 
of the carbonic acid of the soil. These matters continually 
waste in yielding this gas, and must be supplied anew. 
Boussingault found that the rich soil of his kitchen-gar- 
den (near Strasburg) which had been heavily manured 



42 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

from the barn-yard for many years, lost one-third of its 
carbon by exposm-e to the air for three months (July, 
August and September,) being daily watered. It origi- 
nally contained 2.43 per cent. At the conclusion of the 
experiment it contained but 1.60 per cent, having lost 
0.83 per cent. 

Peat and swamp-muck, when properly prepared, fur- 
nish carbonic acid in large quantities during their slow 
oxidation in the soil. 

3. The Nitrogen of Peat, including Ammonia and 
Nitric Acid. 

The sources of the nitrogen of plants, and the real 
cause of the value of nitrogenous fertilizers, are topics that 
have excited more discussion than any other points in 
Agricultural Chemistry. This is the result of two cir- 
cumstances. One is the obscurity in which some parts 
of the subject have rested ; the other is the immense prac- 
tical and commercial importance of this element, as a 
characteristic and essential ingredient of the most precious 
fertilizers. It is a rule that the most valuable manures, 
cormmercially considered, are those containing the most 
nitrogen. Peruvian guano, sulphate of ammonia, soda- 
saltpeter, fish and flesh manures, bones and urine, cost the 
farmer more money per ton than any other manures he 
buys or makes, superphosphate of lime excepted, and this 
does not find sale, for general purposes, unless it contains 
several per cent, of nitrogen. These are, in the highest 
sense, nitrogenous fertilizers, and, if deprived of their ni- 
trogen, they would lose the greater share of their fertiliz- 
ing power. 

The importance of the nitrogen of manures depends 
upon the fact that those forms (compounds) of nitrogen 
which are capable of supplying it to vegetation are com- 
paratively scarce. 



EMPLOYMENT TX AGRICULTURE. 43 

It has long been known that peat contains a consider- 
able quantity of nitrogen. The average amount in thirty 
specimens, analyzed under the author's direction, includ- 
ing peats and swamp mucks of all grades of quality, is 
equivalent to 1| per cent, of the air-dried substance, or 
more than thrice as much as exists in ordinary stable 
or yard manure. In several peats the amount is as high 
as 2.4 joer cent.^ and in one case 2.9 per cent, were found. 

Of these thirty samples, one-half were largely mixed 
with soil, and contained from 15 to 60 per cent, of min- 
eral matters. 

Reducing them to an average of 15 per cent, of water 
and 5 per cent, of ash, they contain 2.1 per cent, of nitro- 
gen, while the organic part, considered free from water 
and mineral substances, contains on the average 2.6 per 
cent. See table, page 90. 

The five peats, analyzed by Websky and Chevandier, 
as cited on page 24, considered free from water and ash, 
contain an average of 1.8 per cent, of nitrogen. 

We should not neglect to notice that peat is often com- 
paratively poor in nitrogen. Of the specimens, examined 
in the Yale Analytical Laboratory, several contained but 
half a per cent, or less. So in the analyses of Websky, 
one sample contained but 0.77 per cent, of the element 
in question. 

As concerns the state of combination in which nitrogen 
exists in peat, there is a difierence of opinion. Mulder 
regards it as chiefly occurring in the form of ammonia 
(a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen), united to the or- 
ganic acids from which it is very difficult to separate it. 
Recent investigations indicate that in general, peat con- 
tains but a smaU proportion of ready-formed ammonia. 

The great part of the nitrogen of peat exists in an in- 
soluble and inert form : but, by the action of the atmos- 



44 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



phere upon it, especially when mixed with and divided by 
the soil, it gradually becomes available to vegetation to as 
great an extent as the nitrogen of ordinary fertilizers. 

It appears from late examinations that weathered peat 
may contain nitric acid (compound of nitrogen with oxy- 
gen) in a proportion which, though small, is yet of great 
importance, agriculturally speaking. What analytical 
data we possess are subjoined. 





PROPORTIONS 


OF NITROGEN, ETC., IN PEAT. 








Analyst. 


Total Nitro- 
gen. 


Ammo- 

nia,per 
cent. 


Nitric acid. 


1— Brown Peat 

2— Black Peat 

3_Peat 


Air dry (?) 
Dried at 212° 


Boussingault 
Reichardt* 


2.20 
Undetermined 


0.018 
0.025 
0.152 
0.165 
0.305 


0.000 

Undetermined 

0.483 


4_Peat 


0.525 


5— Peat 


0.241 


6-Peat 


" 


" 


" 


0.335 


0.421 



Specimens 3, 4 and 5, are swamp (or heath) mucks, and 
have been weathered for use in flower-culture. 3 and 4 
are alike, save that 3 has been weathered a year longer 
than 4. They contain respectively 41, 56 and 67 ^Mr cent, 
of organic matter. 

Sample 6, containing 86 per cent, of organic matter, is 
employed as a manure with great advantage, and probably 
was weathered before analysis. It contained 85 2^er cent. 
of organic substance. 

More important to us than the circumstance that this 
peat contains but little or no ammonia or nitric acid, and 
the other contains such or such a fraction of one per 
cent, of these bodies, is the grand fact that all peats may 
yield a good share of their nitrogen to the support of 
crops, when properly treated and applied. 

Under the influence of Liebig's teachings, which were 
logically based upon the best data at the disposal of this 
distinguished philosopher when he wrote 25 years ago, it 



* Reichardt's analyses are probably inaccurate, and give too much ammonia 
and nitric acid. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 45 

has beeii believed that the nitrogen of a fertilizer, in order 
to be available, must be converted into ammonia and pre- 
sented in that shape to the plant. It has been recently 
made clear that nitric acid, rather than ammonia, is the 
form of nitrogenous food which is most serviceable to veg- 
etation, and the one which is most abundantly supplied 
by the air and soil. The value of ammonia is however 
positive, and not to be overlooked. 

When peat, properly prepared by weathering or com- 
posting, is suitably incorporated with a poor or light soil, 
it slowly suffers decomposition and wastes away. If it be 
wet, and air have access in limited quantity, especially if 
lime be mixed with it, a portion of its nitrogen is gradu- 
ally converted into ammonia. With full access of aii* ni- 
tric acid is produced. In either case, it appears that a 
considerable share of the nitrogen escapes in the free state 
as gas, thereby becoming useless to vegetation until it 
shall have become converted again into ammonia or nitric 
acid. It happens in a cultivated soil that the oxygen of 
the air is in excess at the surface, and less abundant as we 
go down until we get below organic matters : it happens 
that one day it is saturated with water more or less, and 
another day it is dry, so that at one time we have the 
conditions for the formation of ammonia, and at another, 
those favorable to producing nitric acid. In this way, so 
far as our present knowledge warrants us to affirm, or- 
ganic matters, decaying in the soil, continuously yield por- 
tions of their nitrogen in the forms of ammonia and nitric 
acid for the nourishment of plants. i 

The farmer who skillfully employs as a fertilizer a peat 
containing a good proportion of nitrogen, may thus ex- 
pect to get from it results similar to what would come 
from the corresponding quantity of nitrogen in guano or 
stable manure. 

But the capacity of peat for feeding crops with nitro- 



46 PEAT AJ^^D ITS USES. 

gen appears not to stop here. Under certain conditions, 
the free nitrogen of the air which cannot he directly 
appropriated by vegetation^ is oxidized in the pores of 
the soil to nitric acid^ and thus^ free of expense to the 
farmer^ his crops are daily dressed with the most prec- 
ious of all fertilizers. 

This gathering of useless nitrogen from the air, and 
making it over into plant-food cannot go on in a soil desti- 
tute of organic matter, requires in fact that vegetable re- 
mains or humified substances of some sort be present 
there. The evidence of this statement, whose truth was 
maintained years ago as a matter of opinion by many of 
the older chemists, has recently become nearly a matter 
of demonstration by the investigations of Boussingault 
and Knop, while the explanation of it is furnished by the 
researches of Schoenbein and Zabelin. To attempt any 
elucidation of it here would require more space than is 
at our disposal. 

It is plain from the contents of this paragraph that peat 
or swamp muck is, in general, an abundant source of ni- 
trogen, and is often therefore an extremely cheap means 
of replacing the most rare and costly fertilizers. 

n. — "With regard to the inorganic matters of peat con- 
sidered as food to plants, it is obvious, that, leaving out 
of the account for the present, some exceptional cases, 
they are useful as far as they go. 

In the ashes of peats, we almost always find small 
quantities of sulphate of lime, magnesia and phosphoric 
acid. Potash and soda too, are often present, though 
rarely to any considerable amount. Carbonate and sul- 
phate of lime are large ingredients of the ashes of about 
one-half of the thirty-three peats and swamp mucks I 
have examined. The ashes of the other half are largely 
mixed with sand and soil, but in most cases also contain 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 



47 



considerable sulphate of lime, and often carbonates of 
lime and magnesia. 

In one swamp-muck, from Milford, Conn., there was 
found but two per cent, of ash, at least one-half of which 
was sand, and the remainder sulphate of lime, (gypsum.) 
In other samples 20, 30, 50 and even 60 per cent, remained 
after burning off the organic matter. In these cases the 
ash is chiefly sand. The amount of ash found in those 
peats which were most free from sand, ranges from five 
to nine per cent. Probably the average proportion of 
true ash, viz. : that derived from the organic matters 
themselves, not including sand and accidental ingredients, 
is not far from five per cent. 

In twenty-two specimens of European peat, examined 
by Websky, Jaeckel, Walz, Wiegmann, Einhof and Ber- 
thier, eleven contained from 0.6 to 3.5 per cent, of ash. 
The other eleven yielded from 5.3 to 22 per cent. The 
average of the former was 2.4, that of the latter 12.7 per 
cent. Most of these contained a considerable proportion 
of sand or soil. 

Variation in the composition as well as in the quantity 
of ash is very great. 

Three analyses of peat-ashes have been executed at the 
author's instance with the subjoined results : 

ANALYSES OP PEAT-ASHES. 



Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Oxide of iron and alumina. 

Phosphoric acid 

Sulphuric acid 

Chlorine 

Soluble silica 

Carbonic acid 

Sand 



A. 


B. 


0.69 


0.80 


0.58 




40.52 


35.59 


6.08 


4.92 


5.17 


9.08 


0.50 


0,77 


5.52 


10.41 


0.15 


0.43 


8.23 


1.40) 


19.60 


22.28 


12.11 


15.04 


99.13 


100.74 



c. 

3.46 
trace. 
6.60 
1.05 
15.59 
1.55 
4.04 
0.70 

67.01 



A was furnished by Mr. Daniel Buck, Jr., of Poquon- 
nock, Conn., and comes from a peat which he uses as fueL 



48 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

B was sent by Mr. J. H. Stanwood, of Colebrook, Conn. 

C was sent from Guilford, Conn., by Mr. Andrew 
Foote.* 

A and B, after excluding sand, are seen to consist 
chiefly of carbonates and sulphates of lime and magnesia. 
III. contains a very large proportion of sand and soluble 
silica, much iron and alumina, less lime and sulphuric acid. 
Potash and phosphoric acid are three times more abun- 
dant in C than in the others. 

Instead of citing in full the results of Websky, Jseckel 
and others, it will serve our object better to present the 
maximum, minimum and average proportions of the im- 
portant ingredients in twenty-six recent analyses, (includ- 
ing these three,) that have come under the author's notice. 

VARIATIONS AND AVERAGES IN COMPOSITION OP PEAT-ASHES. 

Minimum. Maximum. Average. 

Potash 0.05 to 3.64 0.89 per cent. 

Soda none " 5.73 0.83 " 

Lime 4.72 " 58.38 24.00 

Magnesia none " 24.39 3.20 «' 

Alumina 0.90 " 20.50 5.78 " 

Oxide of iron none " 73.33 18.70 " 

Sulphuric acid none " 37.40 7.50 " 

Chlorine " " 6.50 0.60 " 

Phosphoric acid " " 6.29 2.56 " 

Sand 0.99 " 56.97 25.50 " 

It is seen from the above figures that the ash of peat 
varies in composition to an indefinite degree. Lime is the 
only ingredient that is never quite wanting, and with the 
exception of sand, it is on the average the largest. Of 
the other agriculturally valuable components, sulphuric 
acid has the highest average ; then follows magnesia ; then 
phosphoric acid, and lastly, potash and soda : all of these, 
however, may be nearly or quite lacking. 



* These analyses were executed — A by Professor G. F. Barker ; B by Mr. 
O. C. Sparrow ; C by Mr. Peter Collier, 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 49 

Websky, who has recently made a study of the com- 
position of a number of German peats, believes himself 
warranted to conclude that peat is so modifieii in appear- 
ance by its mineral matters, that the quantity or charac- 
ter of the latter may be judged of in many cases by the 
eye. He remarks, {Journal fuer Praktische Chemie^ 
3d. 92, S. 87,) " that while for examj^le the peats contain- 
ing much sand and clay have a red-brown powdery ap- 
pearance, and never assume a lustrous surface by pres- 
sure ; those which are very rich in lime, are black, sticky 
when moist, hard and of a waxy luster on a pressed sur- 
face, when dry : a property which they share indeed with 
very dense peats that contain little ash. Peats impreg- 
nated with iron are easily recognized. Their peculiar 
odor, and their changed appearance distinguish them from 
all others." 

From my own investigations on thirty specimens of 
Connecticut peats, I am forced to disagree with Websky 
entirely, and to assert that except as regards sand, which 
may often be detected by the eye, there is no connexion 
whatever between the quantity or character of the ash 
and the color, consistency, density or any other external 
quality of the peat. 

The causes of this variation in the ash-content of peat, 
deserve a moment's notice. The plants that produce 
peat contain considerable proportions of lime, magnesia, 
alkalies, sulphuric acid, chlorine and phosphoric acid, as 
seen from the following analysis by Websky. 

COMPOSITION OF THE ASH OF SPHAGNUM. 

Potash 17.2 

Soda 8.3 

Lime 11.8 

Magnesia 6.7 

Sulpiiuric acid 6.5 

Chlorine , 6.2 

Phosphoric acid 6.7 

Per cent, of ash, 2.5. 

The mineral matters of the sphagnum do not all be- 

«> 
o 



50 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

come ingredients of the peat ; but, as rapidly as the moss 
decays below, its soluble matters are to a great degree 
absorbed by the vegetation, which is still living and grow- 
ing above. Again, when a stream flows through a peat- 
bed, soluble matters are carried away by the water, which 
is often dark-brown from the substances dissolved in it. 
Finally the soil of the adjacent land is washed or blown 
upon the swamp, in greater or less quantities. 

III. — The decomposition of peat in the soil offers some 
pecnliarities that are worthy of notice in this place. 
Peat is more gradual and regular in decay than the vege- 
table matters of stable dung, or than that furnished by 
turning under S(^d or green crops. It is thus a more 
steady and lasting benefit, especially in light soils, out of 
which ordinary vegetable manures disappear too rapidly. 
The decay of peat appears to proceed through a regular 
series of steps. In the soil, especially in contact with 
soluble alkaline bodies, as ammonia and lime, there is a 
progressive conversion of the iiisoluhle or less soluble into 
soluble compounds. Thus the inert matters that resist the 
immediate solvent power of alkalies, absorb oxygen from 
the air, and form the humic or ulmic acids soluble in alka- 
lies ; the humic acids undergo conversion into crenic acid, 
and this body, by oxidation, passes into apocrenic acid. 
The two latter are soluble in water, and, in the porous 
soil, they are rapidly brought to the end-results of decay, 
viz. : water, carbonic acid, ammonia and free nitrogen. 

Great difierences must be observed, however, in the 
rapidity with which these changes take place. Doubtless 
they go on most slowly in case of the fibrous compact 
peats, and perhaps some of the lighter and more porous 
samples of swamp muck, would decay nearly as fast as 
rotted stable dung. 

It might appear from the above statement, that the ef- 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGKICULTUEE. 51 

feet of exposing peat to the air, as is done when it is in- 
corporated with the soil, would be to increase relatively 
the amount of soluble organic matters ; but the truth is, 
that they are often actually diminished. In fact, the ox- 
idation and consequent removal of these soluble matters 
(crenic and apocrenic acids,) is likely to proceed more 
rapidly than they can be produced from the less soluble 
humic acid of the peat. 

IV. — Comparison of Peat with Stable Manure. 

The fertilizing value of peat is best understood by com- 
paring it with some standard manure. Stable manure is 
obviously that fertilizer whose effects are most universally 
observed and appreciated, and by setting analyses of the 
two side by side, we may see at a glance, what are the 
excellencies and what the deficiencies of peat. In 
order rightly to estimate the worth of those ingredients 
which occur in but small proportion in peat, we must re- 
member that it, like stable manure, may be, and usually 
should be, applied in large doses, so that in fact the small- 
est ingredients come upcTn an acre in considerable quanti- 
ty. In making our comparison, we will take the analysis 
of Peat from the farm of Mr. Daniel Buck, Jr., of Poquon- 
nock, Conn., and the average of several analyses of rotted 
stable dung of good quality. 

No. jT, is the analysis of Peat ; No. 11^ that of well rot- 
ted stable manure : — 



/. //. 

Water expelled at 212 degrees 79.000 79.00 

• , r Soluble in dilute solution of carbonate of soda. . 7.312 "i 

^%i\ \ 14.16 

^ S-^ I Insoluble in solution of carbonate of soda 12.210 J 

Potash 0.010 0.65 

Soda 0.009 

Lime 0.60S 0.57 

Magnesia 0.091 0.19 

Phosphoric acid 0.008 0.23 

Sulphuric aciil 0.082 0.27 

Nitrogen 0.600 0.55 

Matters, soluble in water 0.450 4.42 

To make the comparison as just as possible, the peat is 



52 PEA.T AND ITS USES. 

calculated with the same content of water, that stable 
dung usually has. 

We observe then, that the peat contains in a given 
quantity, about one-third more organic matter, an equal 
amount of lime and nitrogen ; but is deficient in potash, 
magnesia, phosphoric and sidphuric acids. 

The deficiencies of this peat in the matter of composi- 
tion may be corrected, as regards potash, by adding to 
100 lbs. of it 1 lb. of potash of commerce, or 5 lbs. of un- 
leached wood-ashes ; as regards phosphoric and sulphuric 
acids, by adding 1 lb. of good super-phosphate, or 1 lb. 
each of bone dust and plaster of Paris. 

In fact, the additions just named, Avill convert any 
fresh peat, containing not more than 80 per cent, of wa- 
ter and not less than 20 per cent, of organic matter, into 
a mixture having as much fertilizing matters as stable 
dung, with the possible exception of nitrogen. 

It is a fact, however, that two manures may reveal to 
the chemist the same composition, and yet be very unlike 
in their fertilizing effects, because their conditions are un- 
like, because they differ in their degrees of solubility or 
availability. 

As before insisted upon, it is true in general, that peat 
is more slow of decomposition than yard-manure, and this 
fact, which is an advantage in an amendment, is a disad- 
vantage in a fertilizer. Though there may be some peats, 
or rather swamp mucks, which are energetic and rapid in 
their action, it seems that they need to be applied in larger 
quantities than stable manure in order to produce corres- 
ponding fertihzing effects. In many cases peat requires 
some 2)reparation by weathering, or by chemical action — 
"fermentation" — induced by decomposing animal mat- 
ters or by alkalies. This topic will shortly be discussed. 

We adopt, as a general fact, the conclusion that peat is 
inferior in fertilizing power to stable manure. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 53 

Experience asserts, however, with regard to some indi- 
vidual kinds, that they are equal to common yard manure 
without any preparation whatever. 

Mr. Daniel Buck, of Poquonnock, Conn., says, of the 
*muck,' over-lying the peat, whose composition has just 
been compared with stable manure, that it *' has been ap- 
plied fresh to meadow with good results ; the grass is not 
as tall but thicker and finer, and of a darker green in the 
spring, than when barn-yard manure is spread on." 

A swamp muck, from Mr. A. M. Haling, Rockville, 
Conn., " has been used as a top-dressing, on grass, with 
excellent results. It is a good substitute for barn-yard 
manure." 

A peat, from Mr. Russel U. Peck, of Berlin, Conn., 
"has been used fresh, on corn and meadow, with good 
effect." 

Of the peat, from the ' Beaver Pond,' near New Haven, 
Mr. Chauncey Goodyear, says, " it has been largely used 
in a fresh state, and in this condition is as good as cow- 
dung." 

Mr. Henry Keeler, remarks, concerning a swamp muck 
occurring at South Salem, N. Y., that " it has been used 
in the fresh state, applied to corn and potatoes, and ap- 
pears to be equal to good barn manure : " further : — " it 
has rarely been weathered more than two months, and 
then applied side by side with the best yard manure has 
given equally good results." 

A few words as to the apparent contradiction between 
Chemistry, which says that peat is not equal to stable dung 
as a fertilizer, and Practice, which in these cases affirms 
that it is equal to our standard manure. 

In the first place, the chemical conclusion is a general 
one, and does not apply to individual peats, which, in a 
few instances, may be superior to yard manure. The 



54 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

practical judgment also is, that, in general, yard manure 
is the best. 

To go to the individual cases ; second : A joeat in which 
nitrogen exists in as large a j^roportion as*s found in sta- 
ble or yard manure, being used in larger quantity, or be- 
ing more durable in its action, may for a few seasons pro- 
duce better results than the latter, merely on account of 
the presence of this one ingredient, it may in fact, for the 
soil and crop to which it is applied, be a better fertilizer 
than yard manure, because nitrogen is most needed in that 
soil, and yet for the generality of soils, or in the long run, 
it may prove to be an inferior fertilizer. 

Again ; third — the melioration of the physical qualities 
of a soil, the amendment of its dryness and excessive po- 
rosity, by means of peat, may be more effective for agri- 
cultural purposes, than the application of tenfold as much 
fertilizing, i. e. plant-feeding materials ; in the same way 
that the mere draining of an over-moist soil often makes 
it more productive than the heaviest manuring. 

2. — On the characters of Peat that are detrimental^ or 
that may sometimes need correction before it is agricul- 
turally usefid. 

I. — Bad effects on wet heavy soils. 

We have laid much stress on the amending qualities of 
peat, when applied to dry and leachy soife, which by its 
use are rendered more retentive of moisture and manure. 
These properties, which it would seem, are just adapted 
to renovate very light land, under certain circumstances, 
may become disadvantageous on heavier soils. On clays 
no application is needed to retain moisture. They are al- 
ready too wet as a general thing. 

Peat, when put into the soil, lasts much longer than 
stubble, or green crops plowed in, or than long manure. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 55 

If buried too deeply, or put into a heavy soil, especially 
if in large quantity, it does not decay, but remains wet, 
and tends to make a bog of the field itself. 

For soils that are rather heavy, it is therefore best to 
compost the peat with some rapidly fermenting manure. 
We thus get a compound which is quicker than muck, and 
slower than stable manure, etc., and is therefore better 
adapted to the wants of the soil than either of these 
would be alone. 

Here it will be seen that much depends on the character 
of the peat itself. If light and spongy, and easily dried, 
it may be used alone with advantage on loamy soils, 
whereas if dense, and coherent, it would most likely be a 
poor amendment on a soil which has much tendency to 
become compact, and therefore does not readily free it- 
self from excess of water. 

But even a clay soil, if thorough-drained and deeply 
plowed^ may be wonderfully improved by even a heavy 
dressing of muck, as then,<lhe water being let off, the 
muck can exert no detrimental action ; bat operates as ef- 
fectually to loosen a too heavy soil, as in case of sand, it 
makes an over-porous soil compact or retentive. A clay 
may be made friable, if well drained, by incorporating 
•with it any substance as lime, sand, long manure or muck, 
which interposing between the clayey particles, prevents 
their adhering together. 

II. — N'oxious ingredients. 

{a) Vitriol peat. Occasionally a peat is met with which 
is injurious if applied in the fresh state to crops, from its 
containing ^some substance which exerts a poisonous action 
on vegetation. The principal detrimental ingredients 
that occur in peat, appear to be sulphate of protoxide of 



56 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

iron, — the same body that is popularly known under the 
names copperas and green-vitriol, — and sulphate of alumi- 
na, the astringent component of alum. 

I have found these substances ready formed in large 
quantity in but one of the peats that I have examined, 
viz. : that sent me by Mr. Perrin Scarborough, of Brook- 
lyn, Conn. This peat dissolved in water to the extent of 
15 per cent., and the soluble portion, although containing 
some organic matter and sulphate of lime, consisted in 
great part of green-vitriol. 

Portions of this muck, when thrown up to the air, be- 
come covered with " a white crust, having the taste of 
alum or saltpeter." 

The bed containing this peat, though drained, yields but 
a little poor bog hay, and the peat itself, even after weath- 
ering for a year, when applied, mixed with one-fifth of 
stable manure to corn in the hill, gave no encouraging re- 
sults, though a fair crop was obtained. It is probable 
that the sample analyzed was much richer in salts of iron 
and alumina, than the averag%of the muck. 

Green- vitriol in minute doses is not hurtful, but rather 
beneficial to vegetation ; but in larger quantity it is fa- 
tally destructive. 

In a salt-marsh mud sent me by the Rev. Wm. Clift, of 
Stonington, Conn., there was found sulphate of iron in 
considerable quantity. 

This noxious substance likewise occurred in small 
amount in swamp muck fi-om E. Hoyt, Esq., New Canaan, 
Conn., and in hardly aj^preciable quantity in several oth- 
ers that I have examined. Besides green-vitriol, it is 
possible that certain organic salts of iron, may be delete- 
rious. 

The poisonous properties of vitriol-peats may be effec- 
tually corrected by composting with lime, or wood-ashes. 
By the action of these substances, sulphate of lime, 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 57 

(plaster of Paris) is formed, while the iron separates as 
peroxide, which, being insoluble, is without deleterious 
effect on vegetation. Where only soluble organic salts 
of iron (crenate of iron) are present, simple exposure to 
the air suffices to render them innocuous. 

(b) The acidity of Peats. — Many writers have as- 
serted that peat and muck possess a hurtful " acidity " 
Avhich must be corrected before they can be usefully em- 
ployed. It is indeed a fact, that peat consists largely of 
acids, but, except perhaps in the vitriol-peats, (those con- 
taining copperas,) they are so insoluble, or if soluble, are 
so quickly modified by the absorption of oxygen, that 
they do not exhibit any " acidity " that can be deleterious 
to vegetation. It • is advised to neutralize this supposed 
acidity by lime or an alkali before using peat as a fertil- 
izer or amendment, and there is great use in such mix- 
tures of peat with alkaline matters, as we shall presently 
notice under the head of composts. 

By the word acidity is conveyed the idea of something 
hurtful to plants. This something is, doubtless, in many 
cases, the salts of iron we have just noticed. In others, 
it is simply the inertness, " coldness " of the peat, which 
is not positively injurious, but is, for a time at least, of no 
benefit to the soil. 

(c) Besinous matters are mentioned by various writers 
as injurious ingredients of peat, but I find no evidence 
that this notion is well-founded. The peat or muck 
formed from the decay of resinous wood and leaves does 
not ajDpear to be injurious, and the amount of resin in 
peat is exceedingly small. 

3. — The Preparation of Peat for Agricultural use. 

{a) Excavation. — As to the time and manner of get- 
ting out peat, the circumstances of each case must deter- 
3* 



58 PEAT AND ITS USES. ' 

mine. I only venture here to offer a few hints on this 
subject, which belongs so exclusively to the farm. The 
month of August is generally the appropriate time 
for throwing up peat, as then the swamps are usually most 
free from water, and most accessible to men and teams ; 
but i^eat is often dug to best advantage in the winter, not 
only on account of the cheapness of labor, and from 
there being less hurry with other matters on the farm at 
that season, but also, because the freezing and thawing 
of the peat that is thrown out, greatly aid to disintegrate 
it and prepare it for use. 

A correspondent of The Homestead^ signing himself 
" Commentator," has given directions for getting out peat 
that are well worth the attention of farmers. He says : — 

"The composting of muck and peat, with our stable 
and barn-yard manures, is surely destined to become one 
of the most important items in farm management through- 
out all the older States at least. One of the difficulties 
which lie in the way, is the first removal of the muck 
from its low and generally watery bed ; to facilitate this, 
in many locations, it is less expensive to dry it before 
carting, by beginning an excavation at the border of the 
marsh in autumn, sufficiently wide for a cart path, throw- 
ing the muck out upon the surface on each side, and on a 
floor of boards or planks, to prevent it from absorbing 
moisture from the wet ground beneath ; this broad ditch 
to be carried a sufficient length and depth to obtain the 
requisite quantity of muck. Thus thrown out, the two 
piles are now in a convenient form to be covered with 
boards, and, if properly done, the muck kept covered 
till the succeeding autumn, will be found to be dry and 
light, and in some cases may be carted away on the sur- 
face, or it may be best to let it remain a few months 
longer until the bottom of the ditch has become suffi- 
ciently frozen to bear a team ; it can then be more easily 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 59 

loaded upon a sled or sleigh, and drawn to the yards and 
barn. In other localities, and where large quantities are 
wanted, and it lies deep, a sort of wooden railroad and 
inclined plane can be constructed by means of a plank 
track for the wheels of the cart to run upon, the team 
walking between these planks, and if the vehicle is in- 
clined to ' run off the track,' it may usually be prevented 
by scantlings, say four inches thick, nailed upon one of 
the tracks on each side of the place where the wheel 
should run. Two or more teams and carts may now be 
employed, returning into the excavation outside of this 
track. As the work progresses, the track can be extended 
at both ends, and by continuing or increasing the inclina- 
tion at the upper end, a large and high pile may be made, 
and if kept dry, will answer for years for composting, and 
can be easily drawn to the barn at any time." 

(b) Exposure, weathering, or seasoiiing of peat. — In 
some cases, the chief or only use of exposing the thrown- 
up peat to the action of the air and weather during sev- 
eral months or a- whole year, is to rid it of the great 
amount of water which adheres to it, and thus reduce its 
bulk and Aveight previous to cartage. 

The general effect of exposure as indicated by my anal- 
yses, is to reduce the amount of matter soluble in w^ter, 
and cause peats to approach in this respect a fertile soil, 
so that instead of containing 2, 4, or 6 per cent, of sub- 
stances soluble in water, as at first, they are brought to 
contain but one-half these amounts, or even less. This 
change, however, goes on so rapidly after peat is mingled 
with the soil, that previous exposure on this account is 
rarely necessary, and most peats might be used perfectly 
fresh but for the difficulty often experienced, of redu-cing 
them to such a state of division as to admit of proper 
mixture with the soil. 



60 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

The coherent peats which may be cut out in tough 
blocks, must be weathered, in order that the fibres of moss 
or grass-roots, which give them their consistency, may 
be decomposed or broken to an extent admitting of easy 
pulverization by the instruments of tillage. 

The subjection of fresh and wet peat to frost, speedily 
destroys its coherence and reduces it to the proper state 
of pulverization. For this reason, fibrous peat should be 
exposed when wet to winter weather. 

Another advantage of exposure is, to bring the peat in- 
to a state of more active chemical change. Peat, of the 
deeper denser sorts, is generally too inert (" sour," cold) to 
be directly useful to the plant. By exposure to the air it 
appears gradually to acquire the properties of the humus 
of the soil, or of stable manure, which are vegetable mat- 
ters, altered by the same exposure. It appears to become 
more readily oxidable, more active, chemically, and thus 
more capable of exciting or rather aiding vegetable 
growth, which, so far as the soil is concerned, is the re- 
sult of chemical activities. 

1 Account has been already given of certain peats, which, 
used fresh, are accounted equal or nearly equal to stable 
manure. Others have come under the writer's notice, 
which have had little immediate efiect when used before 
seasoning. 

Mr. J. H. Stanwood says of a peat, from Colebrook, 
Conn., that it " has been used to some extent as a top- 
dressing for grass and other crops with satisfactory re- 
sults, although no particular benefit was noticeable during 
the first year. After that, the effects might be seen for a 
number of years." 

Rev. Wm. Clift observes, concerning a salt peat, from 
Stonington, Conn. : — " It has not been used fresh ; is too 
acid ; even potatoes do not yield well in it the first season^ 
without manure.'^ 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTUEE. 61 

The nature of the chemical changes induced by weath- 
ering, is to some extent understood so far as the nitrogen, 
the most important fertiUzing element, is concerned. The 
nitrogen of peat, as we have seen, is mostly inert, a small 
portion of it only, existing in a soluble or available form. 
By weathering, portions of this nitrogen become converted 
into nitric acid. This action goes on at the surface of the 
heap, where it is most fully exposed to the air. Below, 
where the peat is more moist, ammonia is formed, perhaps 
simj)ly by the reduction of nitric acid — not unlikely also, 
by the transformation of inert nitrogen. On referring to 
the analyses given on page 44, it is seen, that the first 
two samples contain but little ammonia and no nitric acid. 
Though it is not stated what was the condition of these 
peats, it is probable they had not been Aveathered. The 
other four samples were weathered, and the. weathering 
had been the more effectual from the large admixture of 
sand with them. They yielded to the analyst very con- 
siderable quantities of ammonia and nitrates. 

When a peat contains sulphate of protoxide of iron, or 
soluble organic salts of iron, to an injurious extent, these 
may be converted into other insoluble and innocuous 
bodies, by a sufficient exposure to the air. Sulphate of 
protoxide of iron is thus changed into sulphate of perox- 
ide of iron, which is insoluble, and can therefore exert no 
hurtful effect on vegetation, while the soluble organic 
bodies of peat are oxydized and either converted into 
carbonic acid gas, carbonate of ammonia and water, or 
else made insoluble. 

It is not probable, however, that merely throwing up a 
well characterized vitriol-peat into heaps, and exposing it 
thus imperfectly to the atmosphere, is sufficient to correct 
its bad qualities. Such peats need the addition of some 
alkaline body, as ammonia, lime, or potash, to render them 
salutary fertilizers. 



62 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

(c) This brings us to the subject of composting^ which 
appears to be the best means of taking full advantage of 
all the good qualities of peat, and of obviating or neutral- 
izing the ill results that might follow the use of some raw 
peats, either from a peculiarity in their composition, 
(soluble organic compounds of iron, sulphate of protoxide 
of iron,) or from too great indestructibility. The chemi- 
cal changes (oxidation of iron and organic acids) ^ which 
prepare the inert or even hurtful ingredients of peat to 
minister to the support of vegetation, take j)lace most 
rapidly in presence of certain other substances. 

The subtances which rapidly induce chemical change in 
peats, are of two kinds, viz. : 1. — animal or vegetable 
matters that are highly susceptible to alteration and de- 
cay, and 2. — alkalies, either ammonia coming from the 
decomposition of animal matters, or lim^e, potash and soda. 

A great variety of matters may of course be employed 
for making or mixing with peat composts ; but there are 
comparatively few which allow of extensive and economi- 
cal use, and our notice will be confined to these. 

First of all, the composting of peat with animal ma- 
nures deserves attention. Its advantages may be summed 
up in two statements. 

1. — It is an easy and perfect method of economizing all 
such manures, even those kinds most liable to loss by fer- 
mentation, as night soil and horse-dung ; and, 

2. — It develops most fully and speedily the inert fertil- 
izing qualities of the peat itself. 

Without attempting any explanation of the changes 
undergone by a peat and manure compost, further than 
to say that the fermentation which begins in the manure 
extends to and involves the peat, reducing the whole near- 
ly, if not exactly, to the condition of well-rotted dung, 
and that in this process the peat effectually prevents the 
loss of nitrogen as ammonia, — I may appropriately give 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTTJRE. 63 

the practical experience of fiirmers who have proved in 
the most conclusive manner how profitable it is to devote 
a share of time and labor to the manufacture of this kind 
of compost. 

Preparation of Composts with Stable Manure. — The 
best plan of composting is to have a water tight 
trenc'h, four inches deep and twenty inches wide, con- 
structed in the stable floor, immediately behind the cattle, 
and every morning put a bushel-basketful of muck be- 
hind each animal. In this way the urine is perfectly ab- 
sorbed by the muck, while the warmth of the freshly 
voided excrements so facilitates the fermentative process, 
that, according to Mr, F. Holbrook, Brattleboro, Yt, 
who has described this method, rmich more muck can 
thus be well prepared for use in the spring, than by any 
of the ordinary modes^ of composting. When the dung 
and muck are removed from the stable, they should be 
well intermixed, nnd as fast as the compost is prepared, it 
should be ^wt into a compact heap, and covered with a 
layer of muck several inches thick. It will then hardly 
require any shelter if used in the spring. 

If the peat be sufficiently dry and powdery, or free from 
tough lumps, it may usefully serve as bedding, or litter 
for horses and cattle, as it absorbs the urine, and is suffi- 
ciently mixed with the dung in the operation of cleaning 
the stable. It is especially good in the pig-peil, where the 
animals themselves w^ork over the compost in the most 
thorough manner, especially if a few kernels of corn be 
occasionally scattered upon it. 

Mr. Edwin Iloyt, of New Canaan, Conn., writes : — " Our 
^ horse stables are constructed with a movable floor and 
pit beneath, which holds 20 loads of muck of 25 bushels 
per load. Spring and fall, this pit is filled with fresh 
muck, which receives all the urine of the horses, and being 



64 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

occasionally -worked over and mixed, furnishes us annu- 
ally with 40 loads of the most valuable manure." 

*' Our stables are sprinkled with muck every morning, 
at the rate of one bushel per stall, and the smell of am- 
monia, etc., so offensive in most stables, is never perceived 
in ours. Not only are the stables kept sweet, but the am- 
monia is saved by this procedure." 

When it is preferred to make the compost out of doors, 
the plan generally followed is to lay down a bed of 
weathered peat, say eight to twelve inches thick ; cover 
this with a layer of stable dung, of four to eight inches ; 
put on another stratum of peat, and so, until a heap of 
three to four feet is built up. The heap may be six to 
eight feet wide, and indefinitely long. It should be fin- 
ished with a thick coating of peat, and the manure should 
be covered as fast as brought out. 

The proportions of manure and peat should vary some- 
what according to their quality and characters. Strawy 
manure, or that from milch-cows, will " ferment " less peat 
than clear dung, especially when the latter is made by 
horses or highly fed animals. Some kinds of peat heat 
much easier than others. There are peats which will fer- 
ment of themselves in warm moist weatlier — even in the 
bog, giving off ammonia in perceptible though small 
amount. Experience is the only certain guide as to the rel- 
ative quantities to be employed, various projDortions from 
one to five of peat for one of manure, by bulk, being used. 

When the land is light and needs amending, as regards 
its retentive power, it is best to make the quantity of peat 
as large as can be thoroughly fermented by the manure. 

The making of a high heap, and the keeping it trim and 
in shape, is a matter requiring more labor than is gener- 
ally necessary. Mr. J. H. Stanwood, of Colebrook, Conn., 
writes me : — 



EMPLOYMEN^T IN AGRICULTURE. 65 

" My method of composting is as follows : I draw my 
muck to the barn-yard, placing the loads as near together 
as I can tip them from the cart. Upon this I spread 
whatever manure I have at hand, and mix with the feet 
of the cattle, and heap up with a scraper." 

Peat may be advantageously used to save from waste 
the droppings of the yard. 

Mr. Edwin Hoyt, of New Canaan, Conn., says: — 
" We use muck largely in our barn-yards, and after it be- 
comes thoroughly saturated and intermixed with the drop- 
pings of the stock, it is piled up to ferment, and the yard 
is covered again with fresh muck." 

Mr. 1^. Hart, Jr., of West Cornwall, Conn., writes: — 
" In the use of muck we proceed as follows : Soon after 
haying we throw up enough for a year's use, or several 
hundred loads. In the fall, the summer's accumulation in 
hog-pens and barn cellars is spread upon the mowing 
grounds, and a liberal supply of muck carted in and 
spread in the bottoms of the cellars, ready for the season 
for stabling cattle. When this is well saturated with the 
drippings of the stables, a new supply is added. The ac- 
cumulation of the winter is usually applied to the land for 
the corn crop, excej^t the finer portion, which is used to 
top-dress meadow land. A new supply is then drawn in 
for the swine to work up. This is added to from time to 
time, and as the swine are fed on whey, they will convert 
a large quantity into valuable manure for top-dressing 
mowing land." 

A difierence of opinion exists as to the treatment of the 
compost. Some hold it indifferent whether the peat and 
manure are mixed, or put in layers, when the composting 
begins. Others assert, that the fermentation proceeds 
better Avhen the ingredients are stratified. Some direct, 
that the compost should not be stirred. The general tes- 
timony is, that mixture, at the outset, is as effectual 



66 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

as putting up in layers-; but, if the manure be strawy, it 
is, of course, difficult or impracticable to mix at first. 
Opinion also preponderates in favor of stirring, during or 
after the fermentation. 

Mr. Hoyt remarks: — ."We are convinced, that the 
oftener a compost pile of yard manure and muck is 
worked over after fermenting, the better. We work it 
over and add to it a little more muck and other material, 
and the air being thus allowed to penetrate it, a new fer- 
mentation or heating takes j)lace, rendering it more decom- 
l^osable and valuable." 

Rev. Wm. Clift, writes : — " Three or four loads of 
muck to one of stable manure, put together in the fall or 
winter in alternate layers, forked over twice before 
spreading and plowing in, may represent the method of 
composting." 

Mr. Adams White, of Brooklyn, Conn., proceeds in a 
difierent manner. He says : — "In composting, 20 loads 
are drawn on to upland in September, and thrown up in a 
long pile. Early in the spring 20 loads of stable manure 
are laid along side, and covered with the muck. As soon 
as it has heated moderately, the whole is forked over and 
well mixed," 

Those who have practiced making peat composts with 
their yard, stable, and pen manure, almost invariably find 
them highly satisfactory in use, especially upon light soils. 

A number of years ago, I saw a large pile of compost 
in the farm-yard of Mr. Pond, of Milford, Conn., and wit- 
nessed its efiect as applied by that gentleman to a field 
of sixteen acres of fine gravelly or coarse sandy soil. 
The soil, from having a light color and excessive porosity, 
had become dark, unctuous, and retentive of moisture, so 
that during the drouth of 1856, the crops on this field 
were good and continued to flourish, while on the contig- 
uous land they were dried up and nearly ruined. This 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 67 

compost was made from a light muck, that contained "but 
three per cent, of ash (more than half of which was sand), 
and but 1.2 per cent, of nitrogen, in the air-dry state — 
(twenty per cent, of water). Three loads of this muck 
were used to one of stable manure. 

^ Here follow some estimates of the value of this compost 
by practical men. They are given to show that older 
statements, to the same effect, cannot be regarded as ex- 
aggerated. 

Mr. J. H. Stanwood, of Colebrook, Conn,, says: — 
" Experiments made by myself, have confirmed me in the 
opinion that a compost of equal parts of muck and stable 
manure is equal to the same quantity of stable manure." 

Mr. Daniel Buck, Jr., of Poquonnock, Conn., remarks: 
— "8 loads of muck and 4 of manure in compost, when 
properly forked over, are equal to 12 loads of barn-yard 
manure on sandy soil." 

Rev. Wm. Clift, of Stonington, Conn,, writes : — "I con- 
sider a compost made of one load of stable manure and 
three of muck, equal in value to four loads of yard manure." 

Mr. N. Hart, Jr., of West Cornwall, Conn., observes of 
a peat sent by him for analysis : — " We formerly com- 
posted it in the yard with stable manure, but have re- 
modeled our stables, and now use it as an absorbent and 
to increase the bulk of manure to double its original quan- 
tity. We consider the mixture more valuable than the 
same quantity of stable manure." Again, "so successful 
has been the use of it, that we could hardly carry on 
our farming operations without it." 

Mr. Adams White, of Brooklyn, Conn., states: — "The 
compost of equal bulks of muck and stable manure, has 
been used for corn (with plaster in the hill,) on dry sandy 
soil to great advantage. I consider the compost worth 
more per cord than the barn-yard manure." 



68 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

Night Soil \S a substance which possesses, when fresh, 
the most vahiable fertilizing qualities, in a very concen- 
trated form. It is also one which is liable to rapid and 
almost complete deterioration, as I have demonstrated by 
analyses. The only methods of getting the full effect of 
this material are, either to use it fresh, as is done by the 
Chinese and Japanese on a most extensive and offensive 
scale ; or to compost it before it can decompose. The 
former method, will, it is to be hoped, never find accept- 
ance among us. The latter plan has nearly all the advan- 
tages of the former, without its unpleasant features. 

When the night soil falls into a vault, it may be com- 
posted, by simply sprinkling fine peat over its surface, 
once or twice weekly, as the case may require, i. e. as 
often as a bad odor prevails. The quantity thus added, 
may be from twice to ten times the bulk of the night soil, 
— the more within these Hmits, the better. When the 
vault is full, the mass should be removed, worked well 
over and after a few days standing, will be ready to use 
to manure corn, tobacco, etc., in the hill, or for any pur- 
pose to which guano or poudrette is applied. If it can- 
not be shortly used, it should be made into a com- 
pact heap, and covered with a thick stratum of 
peat. When signs of heating appear, it should be 
watched closely; and if the j)rocess attains too much 
violence, additional peat should be worked into it. 
Drenching with water is one of the readiest means of 
checking too much heating, but acts only temporarily. 
Dilution with peat to a proper point, which experience 
alone can teach, is the surest way of preventing loss. It 
should not be forgotten to put a thick layer of jDeat at the 
bottom of the vault to begin with. 

Another excellent plan, when circumstances admit, is, 
to have the earth-floor where the night soil drops, level 
with the surface of the ground, or but slightly excavated. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTUKE. Oil 

and a shed, attached to the rear of the privy to shelter a 
good supply of peat as well as the compost itself. Oper- 
ations are begun by putting down a layer of peat to re- 
ceive the droppings ; enough should be used to absorb all 
the urine. When this is nearly saturated, more should 
be sprinkled on, and the process is repeated until the ac- 
cumulations must be removed to make room for more. 
Then, once a week or so, the whole is hauled out into the 
shed, well mixed, and formed into a compact heap, or 
placed as a layer upon a stratum of peat, some inches 
thick, and covered with the same. The quantity of first- 
class compost that may be made yearly upon any farm, if 
due care be taken, would astonish those who have not 
tried it. James Smith, of Deanston, Scotland, who ori- 
ginated our present system of Thorough Drainage, as- 
serted, that the excrements of one man for a year, are 
suflScient to manure half an acre of land. In Belgium the 
manure from such a source has a commercial value of 
$9.00 gold. 

It is certain, that the skillful farmer may make consider- 
ably more than that sum from it in New England, per an- 
num. Mr. Hoyt, of New Canaan, Conn., says : — 

" Our privies are deodorized by the use of muck, which 
is sprinkled over the surface of the pit once a week, and 
from them alone we thus prepare annually, enough "pou- 
drette" to manure our corn in the hill." 

Peruman Guano^ so serviceable in its first applications 
to light soils, may be composted with muck to the great- 
est advantage. Guano is an excellent material for bring- 
ing muck into good condition, and on the other hand the 
muck most efiectually prevents any waste of the costly 
guano, and at the same time, by furnishing the soil with 
its own ingredients, to a greater or less degree prevents 
the exhaustion that often follows the use of guano alone. 
The quantity of muck should be pretty large compared 



70 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

to that of the guano, — a bushel of guano will compost six, 
eight, or ten of muck. Both should be quite fine, and 
should be well mixed, the mixture should be moist and 
kept covered with a layer of muck of several inches of 
thickness. This sort of compost would probably be suf- 
ficiently fermented in a week or two of warm weather, 
and should be made and kept under cover. 

If no more than five or six parts of muck to one of 
guano are employed, the compost, according to the ex- 
perience of Simon Brown, Esq., of the Boston Cultivator^ 
(Patent Office Report for 1856), will prove injurious, if 
placed in the hill in contact with seed, but may be applied 
broadcast without danger. 

The Menhaden^ or " White fisN\ so abundantly caught 
along our Sound coast during the summer months, or any 
variety of fish may be composted with muck, so as to 
make a powerful manure, with avoidance of the exces- 
sively disagreeable stench which is produced when these 
fish are put directly on the land. Messrs. Stephen Hoyt 
& Sons, of New Canaan, Conn., make this compost on a 
large scale. I cannot do better than to give entire Mr. 
Edwin Hoyt's account of their operations, communicated 
to me several years ago. 

" During the present season, (1858,) we have composted 
about 200,000 white fish with about 700 loads (17,500 
bushels) of muck. We vary the proportions somewhat 
according to the crop the compost is intended for. For 
rye we apply 20 to 25 loads per acre of a compost made 
with 4,500 fish, (one load) and with this manuring, no 
matter how poor the soil, the rye will be as large as a man 
- can cradle. Much of ours we have to reap. For oats we 
use less fish, as this crop is apt to lodge. For corn, one 
part fish to ten or twelve muck is about right, while for 
grass or any top-dressing, the proportion of fish may be 
Increased." 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 71 

" We find it is best to mix the fish in the summer and 
not use the compost until the next spring and summer. 
Yet we are obliged to use in September for our winter 
rye a great deal of the compost made in July. We usu- 
ally compost the first arrivals of fish in June for our win- 
ter grain ; after this pile has stood three or four weeks, it 
is worked over thoroughly. In this space of time the fish 
become pretty well decomposed, though they still pre- 
serve their form and smell outrageously. As the pile is 
worked over, a sprinkling of muck or plaster is given to 
retain any escaping ammonia. At the time of use in Sep- 
tember the fish have completely disappeared, bones and 
fins excepted." 

" The effect on the muCk is to blacken it and make it 
more loose and crumbly. As to the results of the use of 
this compost, we find them in the highest degree satis- 
factory. We have raised 30 to 35 bushels of rye per acre 
on land that without it could have yielded 6 or 8 bushels 
at the utmost. This year we have corn that will give 60 
to 70 bushels per acre, that otherwise would yield but 20 
•to 25 bushels. It makes large potatoes, excellent turnips 
and carrots." 

Fish compost thus prepared, is a uniform mass of fishy 
but not putrefactive odor, not disagreeable to handle. It 
retains perfectly all the fertilizing power of the fish. 
Lands, manured with this compost, will keep in heart and 
improve : while, as is well known to our coast farmers, 
the use of fish alone is ruinous in the end, on light soils. 

It is obvious that any other easily decomposing ani- 
mal matters^ as slaughter-house offal^ soap hoiler''s 
scraps^ glue waste^ horn shavings^ shoddy^ castor pum- 
mace, cotton seed-meal, etc., etc., may be composted in a 
similar manner, and that several or all these substances 
may be made together into one compost. 



72 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

In case of the composts with yard manure, guano and 
other animal matters, the alkali, ammonia^ formed in the 
fermentation, greatly promotes chemical change, and it 
would appear that this substance, on some accounts, ex- 
cels all others in its efficacy. The other alkahne bodies, 
potash^ soda and lime, are however scarcely less active 
in this respect, and being at the same time, of themselves, 
useful fertilizers, they also may be employed in preparing 
muck composts. 

Potash-lye and soda-ash have been recommended for 
composting with muck ; but, although they are no doubt 
highly efficacious, they are too costly for extended use. 

The other alkaline materials that may be cheaply em- 
ployed, and are recommended, a're wood-ashes, leached and 
unleached, ashes of peat, shell mar% (consisting of car- 
bonate of lime,) quich lime, gas lime, and what is called 
" salt and lime m^ixtureP 

With regard to the proportions to be used, no very defi- 
nite rules can be laid down ; but we may safely follow 
those who have had experience in the matter. Thus, to 
a cord of muck, which is about 100 bushels, may be add- 
ed, of unleached wood ashes twelve bushels, or of leached 
wood ashes twenty bushels, or of peat ashes twenty bush- 
els,or of marl, or of gas lime twenty bushels. Ten bushels 
of quick lime, slaked with water or salt-brine previous to 
use, is enough for a cord of muck. 

Instead of using the above mentioned substances singly, 
any or all of them may be employed together. 

The muck should be as fine and free from lumps as 
possible, and must be intimately mixed with the other in- 
gredients by shoveling over. The mass is then thrown up 
into a compact heap, which may be four feet high. When 
the heap is formed, it is well to pour on as much water 
as the mass will absorb, (this may be omitted if the muck 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 73 

is already quite moist,) and finally the whole is covered 
over with a few inches of pure muck, so as to retain 
moisture and heat. If the heap is put up in the Spring, 
it may stand undisturbed for one or two months, when it 
is well to shovel it over and mix it thoroughly. It should 
then be built up again, covered with fresh muck, and al- 
lowed to stand as before until thoroughly decomposed. 
The time required for this purpose varies with the kind 
of muck, and the quality of the other material used. 
The weather and thoroughness of intermixture of the in- 
gredients also materially affect the rapidity of decom- 
jDOsition. In all cases five or six months of summer 
weather is a sufiicient time to fit these composts for 
application to the soil. 

Mr. Stanwood of Colebrook, Conn., says : " I have found 
a compost made of two bushels of unleached ashes to 
twenty-five of muck, superior to stable manure as a top- 
dressing for grass, on a warm, dry soil." 

N". Hart, Jr., of West Cornwall, Conn., states : " I have 
mixed 25 bushels of ashes with the same number of loads 
of muck, and applied it to | of an acre. The result was 
far beyond that obtained by applying 300 lbs. best guano 
to the same piece." 

The use of ''salt and lime mixture'''' is so strongly 
recommended, that a few words may be devoted to its 
consideration. 

When quick-Hme is slaked with a brine of common 
salt (chloride of sodium), there are formed by double de- 
composition, small portions of caustic soda and chloride 
of calcium, which dissolve in the liquid. If the solution 
stand awhile, carbonic acid is absorbed from the air, 
forming carbonate of soda : but carbonate of soda and 
chloride of calcium instantly exchange their ingredients, 
forming insoluble carbonate of Ume and reproducing 
common ^ilt. 
4 



74 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

When the fresh mixture of quick-lime and salt is in- 
corporated with any porous body, as soil or peat, then, 
as Graham has shown, unequal diffusion of the caustic 
soda and chloride of calcium occui'S from the point where 
they are formed, through the moist porous mass, and the 
result is, that the smaU portion of caustic soda which 
diffuses most rapidly, or the carbonate of soda formed by 
its speedy union with carbonic acid, is removed from con- 
tact with the chloride of calcium. 

Soda and carbonate of soda are more soluble in water 
and more strongly alkaline than lime. They, therefore, 
act on peat more energetically than the latter. It is on 
account of the formation of soda and carbonate of soda 
from the Hme and salt mixture, that this mixture exerts a 
more powerful decomposing action than lime alone. 
Where salt is cheap and wood ashes scarce, the mixture 
may be employed accordingly to advantage. Of its use- 
fulness we have the testimony of practical men. 

Says Mr. F. Holbrook of Vermont, (Patent Office Re- 
port for 1856, page 193.) "I had a heap of seventy-five 
half cords of muck mixed with lime in the proportion of 
a half cord of muck to a bushel of lime. The muck was 
drawn to the field when wanted in August. A bushel of 
salt to six bushels of lime was dissolved in water enough 
to slake the lime down to a fine dry powder, the lime 
being slaked no faster than wanted, and spread immedi- 
ately while warm, over the layers of muck, which were 
about six inches thick ; then a coating of lime and so on, 
until the heap reached the height of five feet, a convenient 
width, and length enough to embrace the whole quantity 
of the muck. In about three weeks a powerful decompo- 
sition was apparent, and the heap was nicely overhauled, 
nothing more being done to it till it was loaded the next 
Spring for spreading. The compost was spread on the 
plowed surface of a dry sandy loam at the rate of about 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 75 

fifteen cords to the acre, and harrowed in. The land was 
planted with corn and the crop was more than sixty bush- 
els to the acre." 

Other writers assert that they " have decomposed with 
this mixture, spent tan, saw dust, corn stalks, swamp muck, 
leaves from the woods, indeed every variety of inert sub- 
stance, and in much shorter time than it could be done 
by any other meansP (Working Farmer, Vol. III. p. 280.) 

Some experiments that have a b earing on the efficacy 
of this compost will be detailed presently. 

There is no doubt that the soluble and more active 
(caustic) forms of alkaline bodies exert a powerful decom- 
posmg and solvent action on peat. It is asserted too that 
the nearly insoluble and less active matters of this kind, 
also have an eifect, though a less complete and rapid one. 
Thus, carbonate of lime in the various forms of chalk, 
shell marl,* old mortar, leached ashes and peat ashes, 
(for in all these it is the chief and most " alkaline " in- 

* Shell marl, consisting of fragments and powder of fresh-water shells, is 
frequently met with, underlying peat beds. S^ch a deposit occurs on the farm of 
Mr. John Adams, in Salisbury, Conn, It is eight to ten feet thick. An air-dry 
sample, analyzed under the writer's direction, gave results as follows : 

Water 30.62 

^. „„. ^,,,4 soluble in water. 0.70^ „ ,„ 

Orgamc matter j insoluble in water 5.82 j ^'^^ 

Carbonate of lime 57.09 

Sand 1.86 

Oxide of iron and alumina, with traces of potash, magnesia, 
sulphuric and phosphoric acid 3.91 

100.00 

Another specimen from near Milwaukee, Wis., said to occur there in immense 
quantities underlying peat, contained, by the author's analysis — 

Water 1.14 

Carbonate of lime 92.41 

Carbonate of magnesia • 3.43 

Peroxide of iron with a trace of phosphoric acid 0.92 

Sand • 1.60 

99.50 



76 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

gredient,) is recommended to compost with peat. Let us 
inquire whether carbonate of lune can really exert any- 
noticeable influence in improving the fertiUzing quality of 
peat. 

In the case of vitriol peats, carbonate of lime is the 
cheapest and most appropriate means of destroying the 
noxious sulphate of protoxide of iron, and correcting 
their deleterious quality. When carbonate of lime is 
brought in contact with sulphate of protoxide of iron, the 
two bodies mutually decompose, with formation of sul- 
phate of lime (gypsum) and carbonate of protoxide of 
iron. The latter substance absorbs oxygen from the air 
with the utmost avidity, and passes into the peroxide of 
iron, which is entirely inert. 

The admixture of any earthy matter with peat, will fa- 
cilitate its decomposition, and make it more active chemi- 
cally, in so far as it promotes the separation of the parti- 
cles of the peat from each other, and the consequent access 
of air. This benefit may well amount to something when 
we add to peat one-fifth of its bulk of marl or leached 
ashes, but the question comes up : Do these insoluble mild 
alkalies exert any direct action ? Would not as much soil 
of any kind be equally efficacious, by promoting to an 
equal degree the contact of oxygen from the atmosphere ? 

There are two ways in which carbonate of lime may 
exert a chemical action on the organic matters of peat. 
Carbonate of lime, itself, in the forms we have mentioned, 
is commonly called insoluble in water. It is, however, 
soluble to a very slight extent ; it dissolves, namely, in 
about 30,000 times its weight of pure water. It is nearly 
thirty times more soluble in water saturated with carbonic 
acid ; and this solution has distinct alkaline characters. 
Since the water contained in a heap of peat must be con- 
siderably impregnated with carbonic acid, it follows that 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 77 

when carbonate of lime is present, the latter must form a 
solution, very dilute indeed, but still capable of some di- 
rect effect on the organic matters of the peat, when it acts 
through a long space of time. Again, it is possible that 
the solution of carbonate of lime in carbonic acid, may 
act to liberate some ammonia from the soluble portions 
of the peat, and this ammonia may react on the remainder 
of the peat to produce the same effects as it does in the 
case of a compost made with animal matters. 

Whether the effects thus theoretically possible, amount 
to anything practically important, is a question of great 
interest. It often happens that opinions entertained 
by practical men, not only by farmers, but by mechanics 
and artisans as well, are founded on so untrustworthy a 
basis, are supported by trials so destitute of precision, 
that their accuracy may well be doubted, and from all 
the accounts I have met with, it does not seem to have 
been well established, practically, that composts made with 
carbonate of lime, are better than the peat and carbonate 
used separately. 

Carbonate of lime (leached ashes, shell marl, etc.), is 
very well to use in conjunction with peat, to furnish a 
substance or substances needful to the growth of plants, 
and supply the deficiencies of peat as regards composi- 
tion. Although in the agricultural papers, numerous ac- 
counts of the efficacy of such mixtures are given, we do 
not learn from them whether these bodies exert any such 
good effect upon the peat itself, as to warrant the trouble 
of making a compost. 

4. — Experiments hy the author on the effect of alkaline 
bodies in developing the fertilizing power of Peat. 

During the summer of 1862, the author undertook a 
series of experiments with a view of ascertaining the effect 
of various composting materials upon peat. 



78 PEAT AND ITS FSES. 

Two bushels of peat were obtained from a heap that 
had been weathering for some time on the "Beaver 
Meadow," near New Haven. This was thoroughly air- 
dried, then crushed by the hand, and finally rubbed through 
a moderately fine sieve. In this way, the peat was brought 
to a perfectly homogeneous condition. 

Twelve-quart flower-j^ots, new from the warehouse, 
were filled as described below ; the trials being made in 
duplicate : — 

Pots 1 and 2 contained each 2T0 grammes of peat. 

Pots 3 and 4 contained each 270 grammes of peat, 
mixed with 10 grammes of ashes of young grass. 

Pots 5 and 6 contained each 270 grammes of peat, 
10 grammes of ashes, and 10 grammes of carbonate 
of lime. 

Pots 7 and 8 contained each 270 grammes of peat, 10 
grammes of ashes, and 10 grammes of slaked (hydrate 
of) lime. 

Pots 9 and 10 contained each 270 grammes of peat, 10 
grammes of ashes, and 5 grammes of lime, slaked with 
strong solution of common salt. 

Pots 11 and 12 contained each 270 grammes of peat, 
10 grammes of ashes, and 3 grammes of Peruvian guano. 

In each case the materials were thoroughly mixed to- 
gether, and so much water was cautiously added as 
served to wet them thoroughly. Five kernels of dwarf 
(pop) corn were planted in each pot, the weight of each 
planting being carefully ascertained. 

The pots were disposed in a glazed case within a cold 
grapery,* and were watered when needful with pure wa- 
ter. The seeds sprouted duly, and developed into 
healthy plants. The plants served thus as tests of the 



* To the kindness of Joseph Sheffield, Esq., of New Haven, the author is 
indebted for facilities in carrying on these experiments. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 



79 



chemical effect of carbonate of lime, of slaked lime, and 
of salt and lime mixture, on the peat. The guano pots 
enabled making a comparison with a well-known fertilizer. 
The plants were allowed to grow until those best devel- 
oped, enlarged above, not at the expense of the peat, etc., 
but of their own lower leaves, as shown by the wither- 
ing of the latter. They were then cut, and, after dry- 
ing in the air, were weighed with the subjoined results. 

VEGETATION EXPERIMENTS IN PEAT COMPOSTS. 



Nos. Medium of Growth. 


Weight 
of crops in 
grammes. 


Comparative 
iceight of crops, 
the sum of 1. and 
2. taken as xmity. 


1 Ratio ofxoeight 
\ of crops to weight 
of seeds, the latter 
1 assumed as unity. 




Si 46.42 


1 
8 
9 
10 
11 
13 


2>^ 


1 i Peat, and ashes of grass, 


20>^ 
25M 




28X 


^^■PoQi- ooViPc clnlrp^ limp anfl Ralf, 


30}^ 




35>$ 









Let us now examine the above results. The experi- 
ments 1 and 2, demonstrate that the peat itself is deficient 
in something needful to the plant. In both pots, but 4.2 
grammes of crop were produced, a quantity two and a 
half times greater than that of the seeds, which weighed 
1.59 grammes. The plants were pale in color, slender, 
and reached a height of but about six inches. 

Nos. 3 and 4 make evident what are some of the deficien- 
cies of the peat. A supply of mineral matters, such as are 
contained in all plants, being made by the addition of 
ashes, consisting chiefly of phosphates, carbonates and 
sulphates of lime, magnesia and potash, a crop is realized 
nearly eight times greater than in the previous cases; 
the yield being 32.44 grammes, or 20^ times the weight of 



80 PEAT AISTD ITS USES. 

the seed. The quantity of ashes added, viz. : — 10 gram- 
mes, was capable of supplying every mineral element, 
greatly in excess of the wants of any crop that could be 
grown in a quaTt of soil. The plants in pots 3 and 4 
were much stouter than those in 1 and 2, and had a healthy 
color. 

The experiments 5 and 6 appear to demonstrate that 
carbonate of lime considerably aided in converting the 
peat itself into plant-food. The ashes alone contained 
enough carbonate of lime to supply the wants of the plant 
in respect to that substance. More carbonate of lime 
could only operate by acting on the organic matters of the 
peat. The amount of the crop is raised by the effect of 
carbonate of lime from 32.44 to 38.44 grammes, or from 
20^ to 25| times that of the seed. 

Experiments 7 and 8 show, that slaked lime has more 
effect than the carbonate, as we should anticipate. Its in- 
fluence does not, however, exceed that of the carbonate 
very greatly, the yield rising from 38.44 to 42.22 gram- 
mes, or fi'om 25| to 28| times the weight of the seed. In 
fact, quicklime can only act as such for a very short space 
of time, since it rapidly combines with the carbonic acid, 
which is supplied abundantly by the peat. In experi- 
ments 7 and 8, a good share of the influence exerted must 
therefore be actually ascribed to the carbonate, rather 
than to the quickUme itself. 

In experiments 9 and 10, we have proof that the " lim,e 
and salt mixture " has a greater efficacy than lime alone, 
the crop being increased thereby from 42.22 to 46.42, 
grammes, or from 28^ to 30i tunes that of the seed. 

Finally, we see from experiments 11 and 12 that in all 
the foregoing cases it was a limited supply of nitrogen 
that limited the crop ; for, on adding Peruvian guano, 
which could only act by this element (its other ingredients. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 81 

phosphates of lime and potash, being abundantly supplied 
in the ashes;), the yield was carried up to 53.78 grammes, 
or 35| times the weight of the seed, and 13 times the 
weight of the crop obtained from the unmixed peat. 

5. — The Examination of Peat {much and m,arsh-mud) 
with reference to its Agricultural Value. 

Since, as we are forced to conclude, the variations in 
the composition of peat stand in no recognizable relations 
to differences of appe'arance, it is only possible to ascertain 
the value of any given specimen by actual trial or by 
chemical investigation. 

The method Jy practical trial is usually the cheaper and 
more satisfactory of the two, though a half year or more 
is needful to gain the desired information. 

It is sufficient to apply to small measured plots of 
ground, each say two rods square, known quantities of 
the fresh, the weathered, and the composted peat in order, 
by comparison of the growth and weight of the crop, to 
decide the question of their value. 

Peat and its composts are usually applied at rates rang- 
ing from 20 to 40 wagon or cart loads per acre. There 
being 160 square rods in the acre, the quantity proper to 
a plot of two rods square (= four square rods,) would be 
one half to one load. 

The composts with stable manure and lime, or salt and 
lime mixture, are those which, in general, it would be best 
to experiment with. From the effects of the stable ma- 
nure compost, could be inferred with safety the value of 
any compost, of which animal manure is an essential in- 
gredient. 

One great advantage of the practical trial on the small 
scale is, that the adaptation of the peat or of" the compost 
to the peculiarities of the soil, is decided beyond a ques- 
tion. 

4* 



82 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

It must be borne in mind, however, that the results of 
experiments can only be relied upon, when the plots are 
accurately measured, when the peat, etc., are applied in 
known quantities, and when the crops are separately har- 
vested and carefully weighed. 

If exi^eriments are made upon grass or clover, the 
gravest errors may arise by drawing conclusions from the 
appearance of the standing crop. Experience has shown 
that two clover crops, gathered from contiguous plots 
differently manured, may strikingly differ in appearance, 
but yield the same amounts of hay. 

The chemical examination of a peat may serve to in- 
form us, without loss of time, upon a number of import- 
ant points. 

To test a peat for soluble iron salts which might render 
it deleterious, we soak and agitate a handful for some 
hours, with four or five times its bulk of warm soft water. 
From a good fresh-water peat we obtain, by this treat- 
ment, a yellow liquid, more or less deep in tint, the taste 
of which is very slight and scarcely definable. 

From a vitriol peat we get a dark-brown or black solu- 
tion, which has a bitter, astringent, metallic or inky taste, 
like that of copperas. 

Salt peat will yield a solution having the taste of salt- 
brine, unless it contains iron, when the taste of the latter 
will prevail. 

On evaporating the water-solution to dryness and heat- 
ing strongly in a China cup, a vitriol peat gives off white 
choking fumes of sulphuric acid, and there remains, after 
burning, brown-red oxide of iron in the dish. 

The above testings are easily conducted by any one, 
with the ordinary conveniences of the kitchen. 

Those that^follow, require, for the most part, the chemi- 
cal laboratory, and the skill of the practised chemist, for 
satisfactory execution. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 83 

Besides testing for soluble iron compounds, as already- 
indicated, the points to be regarded in the chemical exam- 
ination, are : — 

1st. Water or moisture. — This must be estimated, be- 
cause it is so variable, and a knowledge of its quantity is 
needful, if we will compare together different samples. 
A weighed amount of the peat is dried for this purpose 
at 212° F., as long as it suffers loss. 

2d. The proportions of organic matter and ash are as- 
certained by carefully burning a weighed sample of the 
peat. By this trial we distinguish between peat with 2 to 
10 per cent, of ash and peaty soil, or mud, containing but 
a few per cent, of organic matter. 

This experiment may be made in a rough way, but with 
sufficient accuracy for common purposes, by burning a 
few lbs. or ozs. of peat upon a piece of sheet iron, or in a 
sauce pan, and noting the loss, which includes both water 
and organic matter. 

3d. As further regards the organic matters, we ascer- 
tain the extent to which the peaty decomposition has taken 
place by boiling with dilute solution of carbonate of soda. 
This solvent separates the humic and ulmic acids from the 
undecomposed vegetable fibers. 

For practical purposes this treatment with carbonate of 
soda may be dispensed with, since the amount of unde- 
composed fiber is gathered with sufficient accuracy from 
careful inspection of the peat. 

Special examination of the organic acids is of no con- 
sequence in the present state of our knowledge. 

4th. The proportion of nitrogen is of the first impor- 
tance to be ascertained. In examinations of 30 samples of 
peat, I have found the content of nitrogen to range from 
0.4 to 2.9 per cent.., the richest containing seven times as 
much as the poorest. It is practically a matter of great 



84 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

moment whether, for example, a Peruvian guano contains 
16 per cent, of nitrogen as it should, or but one-seventh 
that amount, as it may when grossly adulterated. In the 
same sense, it is important before making a heavy outlay 
in excavating and composting peat, to knoAV whether (as 
regards nitrogen) it belongs to the poorer or richer sorts. 
This can only be done by the complicated methods known 
to the chemist. 

5th. The estimation of ammonia (actual or ready-form- 
ed,) is a matter of scientific interest, but subordinate in a 
practical point of view. 

6th. Nitric acid and nitrates can scarcely exist in peat 
except where it is well exposed to the air, in a merely moist 
but not wet state. Their estimation in composts is of great 
interest, though troublesome to execute. 

7th. As regards the ash, its red color indicates iron. 
Pouring hydrochloric acid upon it, causes effervescence in 
the presence of carbonate of lime. This compound, in 
most cases, has been formed in the burning, from humate 
and other organic salts of lime. Sand, or cla^, being in- 
soluble in the acid, remains, and may be readily estimated. 

Phosphoric acid and alkalies, especially potash, are, 
next to lime, the important ingredients of the ash. Mag- 
nesia and sulphuric acid, rank next in value. Their esti- 
mation requires a number of tedious operations, and can 
scarcely be required for practical purposes, until more 
ready methods of analyses shall have been discovered. 

8th. The quantity of matters soluble in water has con- 
siderable interest, but is not ordinarily requisite to be as- 
certained. 

6. — Composition of Connecticut Peats. 
In the years 1857 and 1858, the author was charged by 
the Connecticut State Agricultural Society* with the 

* At the instigation of Henry A. Dyer, Esq., at that time the Society's Corres- 
ponding Seciftaiy. 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 85 

chemical investigation of 33 samples of peat and swamp 
muck, sent to him in compliance with official request. 

In the foregoing pages, the facts revealed by the labori- 
ous analyses executed on these samples, have been for the 
most part communicated, together with many valuable 
practical results derived from the experience of the gen- 
tlemen who sent in the specimens. The analytical data 
themselves appear to me to be worthy of printing again, 
for the information of those who may hereafter make in- 
vestigations in the same direction. — See Tables I, II, and 
III, p.p. 89, 90, and 91. 

The specimens came in all stages of dryness. Some 
were freshly dug and wet, others had suffered long ex- 
posure, so that they were air-dry ; some that were sent in 
the moist state, became dry before being subjected to 
examination ; others were prepared for analysis while still 
moist. 

A sufficient quantity of each specimen was c£8Pefully 
pulverized, intermixed, and put into a stoppered bottle and 
thus preserved for experiment. 

The analyses were begun in the winter of 1857 by my 
assistant, Edward H. Twining, Esq. The samples 1 to 17 
of the subjoined tables were then analyzed. In the fol- 
lowing year the work was continued on the remaining 
specimens 18 — 33 by Dr. Robert A. Fisher. The method 
of analysis was the same in both cases, except in two 
particulars. 

In the earlier analyses, 1 to 17 inclusive, the treatment 
with carbonate of soda was not carried far enough to 
dissolve the whole of the soluble organic acids. It was 
merely attempted to make comparative determinations 
by treating all alike for the same time, and with the same 
quantity of alkali. I have little doubt that in some cases 
not more than one-half of the portion really soluble in 
carbonate of soda is given as such. In the later analyses, 



86 PEAT AKD ITS USES. 

18 to 33, however, the treatment was continued until com- 
plete separation of the soluble organic acids was ejQfected. 

By acting on a peat for a long time with a hot solution 
of carbonate of soda, there is taken up not merely a quan- 
tity of organic matter, but inorganic matters likewise 
enter solution. Silica, oxyd of iron and alumina are thus 
dissolved. In this process too, sulphate of lime is con- 
verted into carbonate of lime. 

The total amount of these soluble inorganic matters 
has been determined with approximate accuracy in anal- 
yses 18 to 33. 

In the analyses 1 to 1 7 the collective amount of matters 
soluble in water was determined. In the later analyses 
the pro^Dortions of organic and inorganic matters in the 
water-solution were separately estimated. 

The i^rocess of analysis as elaborated and employed by 
Dr. Fisher and the author, is as follows : 

I. To prepare a sample for analysis, half a pound, more 
or less, of the substance is jDulverized and passed through 
a wire sieve of 24 meshes to the inch. It is then thor- 
oughly mixed and bottled. 

II. 2 grammes of the above are dried (in tared watch- 
glasses) at the temperature of 212 degrees, until they no 
longer decrease in weight. The loss sustained represents 
the amount of water ^ (according to Marsilly, Annales 
des Mines, 1857, XII., 404, peat loses carbon if dried at a 
temperature higher than 212 degrees.) 

m. The capsule containing the residue from I. is slow- 
ly heated to incipient redness, and maintained at that 
temperature until the organic matter is entirely consumed. 
The loss gives the total amount of organic^ the residue 
the total amount of inorganic matter. 

Note. — In peats containing sulphate of the protoxide 
of iron, the loss that occurs during ignition is partly due 



EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 87 

to the escape of sulphuric acid, which is set free by the 
decomposition of the above mentioned salt of iron. But 
the quantity is usually so small in comparison with the 
organic matter, that it may be disregarded. The same 
may be said of the combined water in the clay that is 
mixed with some mucks, which is only expelled at a high 
temperature. 

IV. 3 grammes of the sample are digested for half an 
hour, with 200 cubic centimeters (66.6 times their weight,) 
of boiling water, then removed from the sand bath, and 
at the end of twenty-four hours, the clear liquid is de- 
canted. This operation is twice repeated upon the res- 
idue ; the three solutions are mixed, filtered, concentrat- 
ed, and finally evaporated to dryness (in a tared platinum 
capsule,) over a water bath. The residue, which must be 
dried at 212 degrees, until it ceases to lose weight, gives 
the total amount soluble in water. The dried residue 
is then heated to low redness, and maintained at that 
temperature until the organic matter is burned ofi". The 
loss represents the amount of organic matter soluble in 
water^ the ash gives the quantity of soluble inorganic 
matter. 

V. 1 gramme is digested for two hours, at a temper- 
ature just below the boiling point, with 100 cubic centi- 
meters of a solution containing 5 per cent, of crystallized 
carbonate of soda. It is then removed from the sand 
bath and allowed to settle. When the supernatant liquid 
has become perfectly transparent, it is carefully decanted. 
This operation is repeated until all the organic matter 
soluble in this menstruum is removed ; which is accom- 
plished as soon as the carbonate of soda solution comes 
off colorless. The residue, which is to be washed with 
boiling water until the washings no longer affect test 
papers, is thrown upon a tared filter, and dried at 212 de- 
grees. It is the total amount of organic and inorganic 



88 " PEAT AND ITS FSES. 

matter insoluble in carbonate of soda. The loss that it 
suffers upon ignition, indicates the amount of organic 
matter^ the ash gives the inorganic matter. 

Note. — The time required to insure perfect settling 
after digesting with carbonate of soda solution, varies, 
with different j^eats/from 24 hours to several days. "With 
proper care, the results obtained are very satisfactory. 
Two analyses of No. 6, executed at different times, gave 
total insoluble in carbonate of soda — 1st analysis 23.20 
per cent. ; 2d analysis 23.45 per cent. These residues 
yielded respectively 14.30 and 14:.16 per cent, of ash. 

VI. The quantity of organic matter insoluble in water 
but soluble in solution of carbonate of soda, is ascer- 
tained by deducting the joint weight of the amounts so- 
luble in water, and insoluble in carbonate of soda, from 
the total amount of organic matter present. The inor- 
ganic matter insoluble in water, but soluble in carbon- 
ate of soda, is determined by deducting the joint weight 
of the amounts of inorganic matter soluble in water, and in- 
soluble in carbonate of soda, from the total inorganic matter. 

VII. The amount of nitrogen is estimated by the com- 
bustion of 1 gramme with soda-lime in an iron tube, col- 
lection of the ammonia in a standard solution of sulphuric 
acid, and determination of the residual free acid by an 
equivalent solution of caustic potash and a few drops of 
tincture of cochineal as an indicator. 

The results of the analyses are given in the following 
Tables. Table I. gives the direct results of analysis. In 
Table II. the analyses are calculated on dry matter, and 
the nitrogen upon the organic matters. Table III. gives 
a condensed statement of the external characters and agri- 
cultural value* of the samples in their different localities, 
and the names of the parties supplying them. 

* Derived from the communications published in the author's Report. Trans. 
Conn. State Ag. Soc. 1858 p.p. 101—153. 



EMPLOYMENT IX AGRICULTURE. 



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PART III 

ON PEAT AS FUEL. 



1. — Kinds of peat that make the best fuel. 

The value of peat for fuel varies greatly, like its other 
qualities. Only those kinds which can be cut out in the 
shape of coherent blocks, or which admit of being arti- 
ficially formed into firm masses, are of use in ordinary 
stoves and furnaces. The powdery or friable surface 
peat, which has been disintegrated by frost and exposure, 
is ordinarily useless as fuel, unless it be rendered coherent 
by some mode of preparation. Unripe peat which con- 
tains much undecomposed moss or grass roots, which is 
therefore very light and porous, is in general too bulky to 
make an effective heating material before subjection to 
mechanical treatment. 

The best peat for burning, is that which is most free 
from visible fiber or undecomposed vegetable matters, 
which has therefore a homogeneous brown or black as- 
pect, and which is likewise free from admixture of earthy 



PEAT AS FUEL. 93 

substances in the form of sand or clay. Such peat is unc-' 
tuous when moist, shrinks greatly on drying, and forms 
hard and heavy masses when dry. It is usually found 
at a considerable depth, where it has been subjected to 
pressure, and then has such consistence as to admit of 
cutting out in blocks ; or it may exist as a black mud or 
paste at the bottom of bogs and sluices. 

The value of peat as fuel stands in direct ratio to its 
content of carbon. We have seen that this ranges from 
51 to 63 per cent, of the organic matter^ and the in- 
crease of carbon is related to its ripeness and density. 
The poorest, youngest peat, has the same proportion of 
carbon as exists in wood. It does not, however, follow 
that its heating power is the same. The various kinds of 
wood have essentially the same proportion of carbon, but 
their heating power is very different. The close textured 
woods — ^those which weigh the most per cord — make the 
best fuel for most purposes. We know that a cord of 
hickory will produce twice as much heat as a cord of 
bass-wood. Peat, though having the same or a greater 
proportion of carbon, is generally inferior to wood on ac- 
count of its occupying a greater bulk for a given weight, 
a necessary result of its porosity. The best qualities of 
peat, or poor kinds artificially condensed, may, on the 
other hand, equal or exceed wood in heating power, bulk 
for bulk. One reason that peat is, in general, inferior to 
wood in heating effect, lies in its greater content of in- 
combustible ash. Wood has but 0.5 to 1.5 per cent, of 
mineral matters, while peat contains usually 5 to 10 per 
cent.^ and often more. The oldest, ripest peats are those 
which contain the most carbon, and have at the same time 
the greatest compactness. From these two circumstances 
they make the best fuel. 

It thus appears that peat which is light, loose in struc- 
ture, and much mixed with clay or sand, is a poor or very 



94 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

poor article for producing heat : while a dense pure peat 
is very good. 

A great drawback to the usefulness of most kinds of 
peat-fuel, lies in their great friability. This property 
renders them unable to endure transportation. The blocks 
of peat which are commonly used in most parts of Ger- 
many as fuel, break and crumble in handling, so that they 
cannot be carried far without great waste. Besides, when 
put into a stove, there can only go on a slow smouldering 
combustion as would happen in cut tobacco or saw-dust. 
A free-burning fuel must exist in compact lumps or blocks, 
which so retain their form and solidity, as to admit of a 
rapid draught of air through the burning mass. 

The bulkiness of ordinary peat fuel, as compared with 
hard wood, and especially with coal, likewise renders 
transportation costly, especially by water, where freights 
are charged by bulk and not by weight, and renders stor- 
age an item of great expense. 

The chief value of that peat fuel, which is simply cut 
from the bog, and dried without artificial condensation, 
must be for the domestic use of the farmer or villager who 
owns a supply of it not far from his dwelling, and can 
employ his own time in getting it out. Though worth per- 
haps much less cord for cord when dry than hard wood, it 
may be cheaper for home consumption than fuel brought 
from a distance. 

Various processes have been devised for preparing peat, 
with a view to bringing it into a condition of density and 
toughness, sufficient to obviate its usual faults, and make 
it compare with wood or even with coal in heating 
power. 

The efibrts in this direction have met with abundant 
success as regards producing a good fuel. In many cases, 
however, the cost of preparation has been too great to 
warrant the general adoption of these processes. We 



PEAT AS FUEL. 95 

shall recur to this subject on a subsequent page, and give 
an account of the methods that have been proposed or 
employed for the manufacture of condensed peat fuel. 

2. — Density of Peat. 

The apparent* specific gravity of peat in the air-dry 
state, ranges from 0.11 to 1.03. In other words, a full 
cubic foot weighs from one-tenth as much as, to slightly 
more than a cubic foot of water, == 62^ lbs. Peat, which 
has a specific gravity of but 0.25, may be and is employed 
as fuel. A full cubic foot of it will weigh about 16 lbs. 
In Germany, the cubic foot of " good ordinary peat " in 
blocks,! ranges from 15 to 25 lbs. in weight, and is em- 
ployed for domestic purposes. The heavier peat, weigh- 
ing 30 or more lbs. per cubic foot in blocks, is used for 
manufacturing and metallurgical purposes, and for firing 
locomotives. 

Karmarsch has carefully investigated more than 100 
peats belonging to the kingdom of Hanover, with refer- 
ence to their heating efiect. He classifies them as fol- 
lows : — 

A. Ttirfy peat^ {Rasentorf) consisting of slightly de- 
composed mosses and other peat-producing plants, having 
a yellow or yellowish-brown color, very soft, spongy and 

* The apparent specific gravity here means the weiglit of the mass, -the air- 
filled cavities and pores included — as compared writh an equal bulk of water. 
The real specific gravity of the peat itself is always greater than that of water, 
and all kinds of peat will sink in water when they soak long enough, or are 
otherwise treated so that all air is removed. 

t The " full " cubic foot implies a cubic foot having no cavities or waste 
space, such as exist in a pile, made up of numerous blocks. If a number of 
peat blocks be put into a box and shaken together, the empty space between the 
more or less irregular blocks, may amount tb 46 per cent, of the wliole ; and 
when closely packed, the cavities amount to«30 per cent., according to the ob- 
servations of Wasserzieher. (Dingler''s Journal, Oct., 1864, p. 118.) Some con- 
fusion exists in the statements of writers in regard to this matter, and want of 
attention to it, has led to grave errors in estimating the weight of fuel. 



96 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

elastic, sp. gr. 0.11 to 0.26, the full English cubic foot 
weighing from 7 to 16 lbs. 

B. Fibrous peat^ unripe peat, which is brown or black 
in color, less elastic than turfy peat, the fibres either of 
moss, grass, roots, leaves, or wood, distinguishable by the 
eye, but brittle, and easily broken ; sp. gr. 0.24 to 0.67, 
the weight of a full cubic foot being from 15 to 42 lbs. 

C. Earthy peat. — Nearly or altogether destitute of 
fibrous structure, drying to earth-like masses which break 
with more or less difficulty, giving lustreless surfaces of 
fracture ; sp. gr. 0.41 to 0.90, the full cubic foot weighing, 
accordingly, from 25 to 56 lbs. 

D. Pitchy peat^ (Pechtorf^) dense ; when dry, hard ; 
often resisting the blows of a hammer, breaking mth a 
smooth, sometimes lustrous fracture, into sharp-angled 
pieces. Sp. gr. 0.62 to 1.03, the full cubic foot weighing 
from 38 to 55 lbs. 

In Kane and Sullivan's examination of 27 kinds of Irish 
peat, the specific gravities ranged from 0.274 to 1.058. 

3. — Seating power of peat as compared with wood and 
anthracite. 

Karmarsch found that in absolute heating effect 

100 lbs. of turfy, air-dry peat, on the average = 95 lbs. of pine wood. 
fibrous " " " = 108 " " 

earthy " " " = 104 

pitchy " " " = 111 " " 

The comparison of heating power by bulk, instead of 
weight, is as follows : — 

100 cubic ft. of turfy peat, on the average* = 33 cubic ft. of pine wood, in sticks. 

" " fibrous " " = 90 " " " " 

earthy " " = 145 " " " 

pitchy " " = 184 



* The waste space in peat and wood as commonly piled, is probably included 
here in the statement, and is usually about the same in both ; viz. : not far from 
40 per cent. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 97 

According to Brix, the weight per English cord and rel- 
ative heating effect of several air-dry peats — the heating 
l^ower of an equal bulk of oak wood being taken at 100 
as a standard — are as follows, hulk for hulk: * 

Weight per Beating 

cord. effect. 

Oak wood 4150 lbs. 100 

Peat from Linum, 1st quality, dense and pitchy 3400 " TO 

2d " fibrous 2900 " 55 

3d " turfy 22T0 " 53 

Peat from Buechsenfeld, 1st quality, pitchy, very hard and heavy, 3400 lbs. 74 

2d " 2T30 " (>4 

These statements agree in showing, that, while weight 
for weight, the ordinary qualities of peat do not differ 
much from wood in heating power ; the heating effect of 
equal hulks of this fuel, as found in commerce, may#ary 
extremely, ranging from one-half to three quarters that, 
of oak wood. 

Condensed peat may be prepared by machinery, which 
will weigh more than hard wood, bulk for bulk, and whose 
heating power will therefore exceed that of wood. 

Gysser gives the following comparisons of a good peat 
with various German woods and charcoals, equal weights 
being employed, and split beech wood, air-dry, assumed 
as the standard. f 

Beech wood, split, air dry , 1.00 

Peat, condensed by Weber's & Gysser's method, t air-dried, with 2b per cent. 

moisture,...-.^ 1.00 

Peat, condensed by Weber's & Gysser's method, hot-dried, with 10 per cent. 

moisture 1.48 

Peat-charcoal, from condensed peat 1.73 

The same peat, simply cut and air-dried 0.80 

Beech-charcoal 1.90 

Summer-oak wood .1.18 

Birch wood , 0.95 

White pine wood 0.72 

Alder .0.65 

Linden 0.65 

Red pine 0.61 

Poplar ... 0.50 

* See note on the preceding page. 

t Dcr Tor/, etc., S. 43. X See page 00. 

5 



98 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

Some experiments have been made in this country on 
the vahie of peat as fuel. One was tried on the N. Y. 
Central Railroad, Jan. 3, 1866. A locomotive with 25 
empty freight cars attached, was propelled from Syracuse 
westward — the day being cold and the wind ahead — at the 
rate of 16 miles the hour. The engineer reported that 
" the peat gave us as much steam as wood, and burnt a 
beautiful fire." The peat, we infer, was cut and prepared 
near Syracuse, N. Y. 

In one of the pumping houses of the Nassau Water 
Department of the City of Brooklyn, an experiment has 
been made for the purpose of comparing peat with anthra- 
citef<for the results of which I am indebted to the courtesy 
of Moses Lane, Esq., Chief Engineer of the Department. 

Fire was started under a steam boiler with wood. 
"When steam was up, the peat was burned — its quantity 
being 1743 lbs., or 18 barrels — and after it was consumed, 
the firing was continued with coal. The pressure of steam 
was kept as nearly uniform as possible throughout' the 
trial, and it was found that with 1743 lbs. of peat the 
engine made 2735 revolutions, Avhile with 1100 lbs. of 
coal it made 3866 revolutions. In other words, 100 lbs. 
of coal produced 351 yVo revolutions, and 100 lbs. of peat 
l^roduced 156tVo revolutions. One pound of coal there- 
fore equalled 2^% lbs. of peat in heating efiect. The 
peat burned well and generated steam freely. 

Mr. Lane could not designate the quality of the peat, 
not having been able to witness the experiment. 

These trials have not, indeed, all the precision needful 
to fix with accuracy the comparative heating effect of the 
fuels employed ; for a furnace, that is adapted for wood, 
is not necessarily suited to peat, and a coal grate must 
have a construction unlike that which is proper for a peat 
fire; nevertheless they exhibit the relative merits of 



PEAT AS FUEL. 99 

wood, peat, and anthracite, wjth sufficient closeness for 
most practical purposes. 

Two considerations would prevent the use of ordinary 
cut peat in large works, even could two and one-fourth 
tons of it be afforded at the same price as one ton of coal. 
The Nassau Water Department consumes 20,000 tons of 
coal yearly, the handling of which is a large expense, six 
firemen being employed to feed the furnaces. To gen- 
erate the same amount of steam with peat of the quality 
experimented with, would require the force of firemen to 
be considerably increased. Again, it would be necessary 
to lay in, under cover, a large stock of fuel during the 
summer, for use in winter, when peat cannot be raised. 
Since a barrel of this peat weighed less tlian 100 lbs., the 
short ton would occupy the volume of 20 barrels ; as is 
well known, a ton of anthracite can be put into 8 barrels. 
A given weight of peat therefore requires 2h times as 
much storage room, as the same weight of coal. As 
2, tons of peat, in the case we are considering, are equiv- 
alent to but one ton of coal in heating effect, the winter's 
supply of peat fuel would occupy 5| times the bulk of the 
same supply in coal, admitting that the unoccupied or air- 
space in a pile of peat is the same as in a heap of coal. 
In fact, the calculation would really turn out still more to 
the disadvantage of peat, because the air-space in a bin 
of peat is greater than in one of coal, and coal can be ex- 
cavated for at least two months more of the year than 
peat. 

It is asserted by some, that, because peat can be con- 
densed so as to approach anthracite in specific gravity, it 
must, in the same ratio, approach the latter in heating 
power. Its effective heating power is, indeed, consider- 
ably augmented by condensation, but no mechanical treat- 
ment can increase its percentage of carbon or otherwise 



100 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

alter its chemical composition ; hence it must forever re- 
main inferior to anthracite. 

The composition and density of the best condensed peat 
is compared with that of hard wood and anthracite in the 
following statement : — 

In 100 parts. Carbon. Hydrogen, Oxygeii and Ash. Water. Specific 

Nitrogen. Gravity. 

Wood, 39.6 4.8 34.8 0.8 20.0 0.75 

Condensed peat . .47.2 4.9 22.9 5.0 20.0 1.20 

Anthracite 91.3 2.9 2.8 3.0 1.40 

In combustion in ordinary fires, the water of the fuel is 
a source of waste, since it consumes heat in acquiring the 
state of vapor. This is well seen in the comparison of the 
same kind of peat in diiferent states of dryness. Thus, 
in the table of Gysser, (page 97) Weber's condensed peat, 
containing 10 per cent, of moisture, surpasses in heating 
effect that containing 25 ^:>er cent, of moisture, by nearly 
one-half. 

The oxygen is a source of waste, for heat as developed 
from fuel, is ciiieily a result of the chemical union of 
atmospheric or free oxygen, with the carbon and hydrogen 
of the combustible. The oxygen of the fuel, being already 
combined with carbon and hydrogen, not only cannot 
itself contribute to the generation of heat, but neutraUzes 
the heating effect of those portions of the carbon and hy- 
drogen of the fuel with which it remains in combination. 
The quantity of heating effect thus destroyed, cannot, 
however, be calculated with certainty, because physical 
changes, viz : the conversion of solids into gases, not to 
speak of secondary chemical transformations, whose in- 
fluence cannot be estimated, enter into the computation. 

Nitrogen and ash are practically indifferent in the burn- 
ing process, and simply impair the heating value of fuel 
in as far as they occupy space in it, and make a portion 
of its weight, to the exclusion of combustible matter. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 101 

Again, as regards density, peat is, in general, consider- 
ably inferior to anthracite. The best uncondensed peat 
has a sj^ecific gravity of 0.90. Condensed peat usually 
does not exceed 1.1. Sometimes it is made of sp. gr. 1.3. 
Assertions to the eifect of its acquiring a density of 1.8, 
can hardly be credited of pure peat, though a considerable 
admixture of sand or clay might give such a result. 

The comparative heating power of fuels is ascertained 
by burning them in an apparatus, so constructed, that 
the heat generated shall expend itself in evaporating or 
raising the temperature of a known quantity of water. 

The amount of heat that will raise the temperature of 
one gramme of water^ one degree of the centigrade ther- 
mometer\ is agreed upon as the unit of heat.^ 

In the complete combustion of carbon in the form of 
charcoal or gas-coal, there are developed 8060 units of 
heat. In the combustion of one gramme of hydrogen 
gas, 34,210 units of heat are generated. The heating ef- 
fect of hydrogen is therefore 4.2 times greater than that 
of carbon. It was long supposed that the heating effect 
of compound combustibles could be calculated from their 
elementary composition. This view is proved to be er- 
roneous, and direct experiment is the only satisfactory 
means of getting at the truth in this respect. 

The data of Karmarsch, Brix, and Gysser, already 
given, were obtained by the experimental method. They 
were, however, made mostly on a small scale, and, in some 
cases, without due regai'd to the peculiar requirements of 
the different kinds of fuel, as regards fire space, draught, 
etc. They can only be regarded as approximations to the 
truth, and have simply a comparative value, which is, 
however, sufficient for ordinary purposes. 

* On account of the great convenience of the decimal weights and measures, 
and their nearly universal recognition by scientific men, we have adopted them 
here. The gramme = 15 grains ; 5 degrees centigrade = 9 degrees Fahrenheit. 



102 PEAT AXD ITS USES. 

The general results of the investigations hitherto made 
on all the common kinds of fuel, are given in the subjoined 
statement. The comparison is made in units of heat, and 
refers to equal weights of the materials experimented 
with. 

HEATING POWER OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF FUEL. 



Air-dry Wood 

" Peat 

Perfectly dry Wood 

'' Peat 

Air-dry Lignite or Brown Coal 

Perfectly dry Ligtiite or Brown Coal 

Bituminous Coal , 

Anthracite 

Wood Charcoal 

Coke 



2800 


,2500 


3000 


3600 


3000 


4000 


,3300 


4200 


,4000 


5000 


,3800 


7000 


. 7500 


.6300 


7500 


.6500 


7600 



4. — Modes of Burning Peat. 

In the employment of peat fuel, regard must be had to 
its shape and bulk. Commonly, peat is cut or moulded 
into blocks or sods like bricks, which have a length of 8 
to 18 inches ; a breadth of 4 to 6 inches, and a thickness 
of 1\ to 3 inches. Machine peat is sometimes formed into 
circular disks of 2 to 3 inches diameter, and 1 to 2 inches 
thickness and thereabouts. It is made also in the shape 
of balls of 2 to 3 inches diameter. Another form is that of 
thick-walled pipes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, a foot or 
more long, and with a bore of one-half inch. 

Flat blocks are apt to lie closely together in the fire, 
and obstruct the draft. A fire-place, constructed properly 
for burning them, should be shallow, not admitting of 
more than two or three layers being superposed. Ac- 
cording to the bulkiness of the peat, the fire-place should 
be roomy, as regards length and breadth. 

Fibrous and easily crumbling peat is usually burned 
upon a hearth, i. e. without a grate, either in stoves or open 
fire-places. Dense peat burns best upon a grate, the bars 
of which should be thin and near together, so that the 



PEAT AS FUEL. 



103 



air have access to every part of the fuel. The denser and 
tougher the peat, and the more its shape corresponds with 
that usual to coal, the better is it adapted for use in our 
ordinary coal stoves and furnaces. 

5. — Burning of hroJcen peat. 

Broken peat — the fragments and waste of the cut or 
moulded blocks, and peat as obtained by plowing and 
harrowing tlie surfiice of drained peat-beds — may be used 
to advantage in the stair grate ^ fig. 1, which was introduced 




Fig. 1. — STAIR GRATE, 

some years ago in Austria, and is adapted exclusively "for 
burning finely divided fuel. It consists of a series of thin 
iron bars 3 to 4 inches wide, a, a, a, which are ar- 
ranged above each other like steps, as shown in the figure. 
They are usually half as long as the grate is wide, and are 
supported at each end by two side pieces or walls, I. Be- 
low, the grate is closed by a heavy iron plate. The fuel 
is placed in the hopper A^ which is kept filled, and from 



104 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

which it falls down the incline as rapidly as it is consumed. 
The air enters from the space (x, and is regulated by- 
doors, not shown in the cut, which open into it. The 
masonry is supported at w, by a hollow iron beam. Be- 
low, a lateral opening serves for clearing out the ashes. 
The effect of the fire depends upon the width of the 
throat of the hopper at w, which regulates the supply of 
fuel to the grate, and upon the inclination of the latter. 
The throat is usually from 6 to 8 inches wide, according 
to the nature of the fuel. The inclination of the grate is 
40 to 45° and, in general, should be that which is assumed 
by the sides of a pile of the fuel to be burned, when it is 
thrown up into a heap. This grate ensures complete 
combustion of fuel that would fall through ordinary 
grates, and that would merely smoulder upon a hearth. 
The fire admits of easy regulation, the ashes may be re- 
moved and the fuel may be supplied without checking 
the fire. Not only broken peat, but coal dust, saw dust, 
wood turnings and the like may be burned on this grate. 
The figure represents it as adapted to a steam boiler. 

6. — Hygroscopic water of peat fuel. 

The quantity of water retained by air-dried peat ap- 
pears to be the same as exists in air-dried wood, viz., about 
^^ per cent. The ]3ro23ortion will vary however according 
to the time of seasoning. In thoroughly seasoned wood 
or peat, it may be but 15 per cent. ; while in the poorly 
dried material it may amount to 25 or more per cent. 
When hot-dried^ the proportion of water may be reduced 
to 10 per cent., or less. 

When peat is still moist, it gathers water rapidly from 
damp air, and in this condition has been known to burst 
the sheds in which it was stored, but after becoming dry 
to the eye and feel, it is but little affected by dampness, 
no more so, it appears, than seasoned wood. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 105 



7. — Shrinkage. 



In estimating the value and cost of peat fuel, it must be 
remembered that peat shrinks greatly in drying, so that 
three to five cords of fresh peat yield but one cord of dry 
peat. When the fiber of the peat is broken by the hand, 
or by machinery, the shrinkage is often much greater, 
and may sometimes amount to seven-eighths of the origi- 
nal volume. — Dingier' s Journal^ Oct. 1864, S. 68. 

The difference in weight between fresh and dry peat 
is even greater. Fibrous peat, fresh from the bog, may 
contain ninety per cent, of water, of which seventy per 
cent, must evaporate? before it can be called dry. The 
proportion of water in earthy or pitchy peat is indeed 
less ; but the quantity is always large, so that from five to 
nine hundred weight of fresh peat must be lifted in order 
to make one hundred weight of dry fuel. 

8. — Time of excavation^ and drying. 

Peat which is intended to be used after simply drying, 
must be excavated so early in the season that it shall be- 
come dry before frosty weather arrives : because, if frozen 
when wet, its coherence is destroyed, and on thawing it 
falls to a powder useless for fuel. 

Peat must be dried with certain precautions. If a 
block of fresh peat be exposed to hot sunshine, it dries 
and shrinks on the surface much more rapidly than with- 
in : as a consequence it cracks, loses its coherence, and 
the block is easily broken_, or of itself falls to pieces. In 
Europe, it is indeed customary to dry peat without shel- 
ter, the loss by too rapid drying not being greater than 
the expense of building and maintaining drying sheds. 
There however the sun is not as intense, nor the air near- 
ly so dry, as it is here. Even there, the occurrence of an 
unusually hot summer, causes great loss. In our climate, 
5* 



106 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

some shelter would be commonly essential unless tlie peat 
be dug early in the sprmg, so as to lose the larger share of 
its water before the hot weather ; or, as would be best of 
all, in the autumn late enough to escape the heat, but 
early enough to ensure such dryness as would prevent 
damage by frost. The peculiarities of climate must de- 
cide the time of excavating and the question of shelter. 

The point in drying peat is to make^it lose its water 
gradually and regularly, so that the inside of each block 
shall dry nearly as fast as the outside. 

Some of the methods of hot-drying peat, will be subse- 
quently noticed. ^ 

Summer or fall digging would be always advantageous 
on account of the swamps being then most free from 
water. In Bavaria, peat is dug mostly in July and the 
first half of August. 

9. — Drainage. 

When it is intended to raise peat fuel in the form of 
blocks^ the bog should be drained no more rapidly than it is 
excavated. Peat, which is to be worth cutting in the 
spring, must be covered with water during the winter, else 
it is pulverized by the frost. So, too, it must be protected 
against drying away and losing its coherency in summer, 
by being kept sufficiently impregnated with water. 

In case an extensive bog is to be drained to facili- 
tate the cutting out of the peat for use as fuel, the 
canals that carry off the water from the parts which are 
excavating, should be so constructed, that on the ap- 
proach of cold weather, the remaining peat may be flooded 
again to the usual height. 

In most of the smaller swamps, systematic draining is 
unnecessary, the water drying away in summer enough to 
admit of easy working. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 107 

In some methods of preparing or condensing peat by 
machinery, it is best or even needful to drain and air-dry 
the peat, preliminary to working. By draining, the peat 
settles, especially on the borders of the ditches, several 
inches, or even feet, according to its nature and depth. It 
thus becomes capable of bearing teams and machinery, 
and its density is very considerably augmented. 

10. — The Cutting of Peat. — a. Preparations. 

In preparing to raise peat fuel from the bog, the sur- 
face material, which from the action of frost and sun has 
been pulverized to " muck," or which otherwise is full of 
roots and undecomposed matters, must be removed usu- 
ally to the depth of 12 to 18 inches. It is only those por- 
tions of the peat which have never frozen nor become dry, 
and are free from coarse fibers of recent vegetation, that 
can be cut for fuel. 

Peat fuel must be brought into the form of blocks or 
masses of such size and shape as to adapt them to use in 
our common stoves and furnaces. Commonly, the peat is 
of such consistence in its native bed, that it may be cut 
out with a spade or appropriate tool into blocks having 
more or less coherence. Sometimes it is needful to take 
away the surplus water from the bog, and allow the peat 
to settle and drain a while before it can be cut to advantage. 

When a bog is to be opened, a deep ditch is run from 
an outlet or lowest point a short distance into the peat 
bed, and the working goes on from the banks of this 
ditch. It is important that system be followed in raising 
the peat, or there will be great waste of fuel and of labor. 

If, as often happens, the peat is so soft in the wet sea- 
son as to break on the vertical walls of a ditch and fill it, 
at the same time dislocating the mass and spoiling it for 
cutting, it is best to carry down the ditch in terraces, mak- 
ing it wide above and narrow at the bottom. 



108 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



h. Gutting hy hand. 

The simplest mode of procedure, consists in laying off 
a " field " or plot of, say 20 feet square, and making ver- 
tical cuts with a sharp spade three or four inches deep 
from end to end in parallel lines, as far apart as it is pro- 
posed to make the breadth of the peats or sods, usually 
four to five inches. Then, the field is cut in a similar 
manner in lines at right angles to the first, and at a dis- 
tance that shall be the length of the peats, say 18 to 20 
inches. Finnlly, the workman lifts the peats by horizon- 
tal thrusts of his spade, made at a depth of three inches. 
The sods as lifted, are j^laced on a light barrow or upon 
a board or rack, and are carried ofi* to a drying ground, 
near at hand, where they are laid down flatwise to drain 
and dry. In Ireland, it is the custom, 
after the peats have lain thus for a fort- 
night or so, to *' foot " them, i. e. to place 
them on end close together ; after further 
drying the "footing" is succeeded by 
" clamping," which is building the sods 
up into stacks of about twelve to fifteen 
feet long, four feet wide at bottom, nar- 
rowing to one foot at top, with a height 
of four to five feet. The outer turfs are 
inclined so as to shed the rain. The peat 
often remains in these clamps on the bog 
until wanted for use, though in rainy 
seasons the loss by crumbling is con- 
siderable. 

Other modes of lifting peat, require tools of particular 

construction In Germany it is common to excavate 

by vertical thrusts of the tool, the cutting part of which 
is represented above, fig. 2. This tool is pressed down in- 
to the peat to a depth corresponding to the thickness of 




Fig. a. — GERMAN 
PEAT-KNIFE. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 109 

the required block : its three edges cut as many sides of 
the block, and the bottom is then broken or torn out by 
a prying motion. 

In other cases, this or a similar tool is forced down by 
help of the foot as deeply into the peat as possible by a 
workman standing above, while a second man in the 
ditch cuts out the blocks of proper thickness by means 
of a sharp spade thrust horizontally. When the peats are 
taken out to the depth of the first vertical cutting, the 
knife is used again from above, and the process is thus 
continued as before, until the bottom of the peat or the 
desired depth is reached. 

In Ireland, is employed the " slane," a common form of 
which is shown in fig. 3, it being a long, narrow and 
sharp spade, 20 inches by six, with a wing at right angles 
to the blade. 



Fig. 3. — IRISH SLAKE. 

The peats are cut by one thrust of this instrument 
which is worked by the arms alone. After a vertical cut 
is made by a spade, in a line at right angles to a bank of 
peat, the slane cuts the bottom and other side of the 
block ; while at the end the latter is simply lifted or 
broken away. 

Peat is most easily cut in a vertical direction, but when, 
as often happens, it is made up of layers, the sods are 
likely to break apart where these join. Horizontal cut- 
ting is therefore best for stratified peat. 

System employed in East Frlesland. — In raising peat, 
great waste both of labor and of fuel may easily occur as 
the result of random and unsystematic methods of work- 



110 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

ing. For this reason, the mode of cutting peat, followed 
in the extensive moors of East Friesland, is worthy of 
particular description. There, the business is pursued 
systematically on a plan, which, it is claimed, long experi- 
ence * has developed to such perfection that the utmost 
economy of time and labor is attained. The cost of 
producing marketable peat in East Friesland in 1860, was 
one silver groschen==about 2\ cents, per hundred weight ; 
while at that time, in Bavaria, the hundred weight cost 
three times as much when fit for market ; and this, not- 
withstanding living and labor are much cheaper in the 
latter country. 

The method to be described, presupposes that the 
workmen are not hindered by water, which, in most 
cases, can be easily removed from the high-moors of the 
region. The peat is worked in long stretches of 10 feet 
in width, and 100 to 1000 paces in length : each stretch 
or plot is excavated at once to a considerable depth and 
to its full width. Each successive year the excavation is 
widened by 10 feet, its length remaining the same. Some- 
times, unusual demand leads to more rapid working ; but 
the width of 10 feet is adhered to for each cutting, and, 
on account of the labor of carrying tlie peats, it is pre- 
ferred to extend the length rather than the width. 

Assuming that the peat bed has been opened by a pre- 
vious cutting, to the depth of 5| feet, and the surface 
muck and light peat, 1| feet thick, have been thrown into 
the excavation of the year before — a new plot is worked 
by five men as follows. 

* Pliny, Hist. Nat. (Lib. XVI, 1) expresses his pity for the " miserable people " 
living in East Friesland and vicinity in his day, who " dug out with the hands a 
moor earth, which, dried more by wind than sun, they used for preparing their 
food and warming their bodies :" captum manibns lutum ventis magis quam 
sole siccantis, terra cibos et rigentia septembrione viscera sua urunt. 

As regards the "■■misera gens," it should be said that rich grain fields and nu- 
merous flourishing villages have occupied for several centuries large portions of 
the Duevel moor near Bremen. 



PEAT AS FUEL. Ill 

One man, the " Bunker," removes from the surface, 
about two inches of peat, disintegrated by the winter's 
frost, throwing it into last year's ditch. 

Following him, come two " Diggers," of whom one 
stands on the surface of t-he peat, and with a heavy, 
long handled tool, cuts out the sides and end of the blocks, 
which are about seventeen by five inches ; while the other 
stands in tlie ditch, and by horizontal thrusts of a light, 
sharp spade, removes the sods, each of five and a half 
inches thickness, and places them on a small board near 
by. Each block of peat has tlie dimensions of one fourth 
of a cubic foot, and weighs about 13 pounds. Two good 
workmen will raise 25 such peats, or 6i cubic feet, per 
minute. 

A fourth man, the " Loader," puts the sods upon a 
wheel-barrow, always two rows of six each, one upon 
the other, and — 

A fifth, the " Wheeler," removes the load to the dry- 
ing ground, and with some help from the Bunker, dis- 
poses them flatwise in rows of 16 sods wide, which run 
at right angles to the ditch, and, beginning at a little 
more than 10 feet from the latter, extend 50 feet. 

The space of 10 feet between the plot that is excavat- 
ing, and the drying ground, is, at the same time, cleared 
of the useless surface muck by the Bunker, in prej^aration 
for the next year's work. 

With moderate activity, the five men will lift and lay 
out 12,000 sods (3000 cubic feet,) daily, and it is not un- 
common that five first-rate hands get out 16,800 peats 
(4200 cubic feet,) in this time. 

A gang of five men, working as described, suffices for 
cutting out abed of four feet of solid peat. When the ex- 
cavation is to be made deeper, a sixth man, the " Hanker," 
is needful for economical work ; and with his help the cut- 
ting may be extended down to nine and a half feet ; i. e. 



112 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

through eight feet of solid peat. Tlie cutting is carried 
down at first, four feet as before, but the peats are carried 
50 feet further, in order to leave room for those to be 
subsequently lifted. The " Hanker " aids here, with a 
second wheel-barrow. In taking out the lower peat, the 
" Hanker " stands on the bottom of the first excavation, 
receives the blocks from the Diggers, on a broad wooden 
shovel, and hands them up to the Loader; while the 
Wheeler, having only the usual distance to carry them, 
lays them out in the drying rows without difiSculty. 

After a little drying in the rows, the peats are gradu- 
ally built up into narrow piles, like a brick wall of one 
and a half bricks thickness. These piles are usually 
raised by women. They are made in the spaces between 
the rows, and are laid up one course at a time, so that 
each block may dry considerably, before it is covered by 
another. A woman can lay up 12,000 peats daily — the 
number lifted by 5 men — and as it requires about a month 
of good weather to give each course time (two days) to 
dry, she is able to pile for 30 gangs of workmen. If the 
weather be very favorable, the peats may be stacked or - 
put into sheds, in a few days after the piling is finished. 
Stacking is usually practised. The stacks are carefully 
laid up in cylindrical form, and contain 200 to 500 cubic 
feet. When the stacks are properly built, the peat suflEers 
but little from the weather. 

According to Schroeder, from whose account (Dingler's 
Polytechnisches Journal, Bd. 156, S.128) the above state- 
ments are derived, the peats excavated under his direc- 
tion, in drying thoroughly, shrank to about one-fourth 
of their original bulk (became 12 inches x 3 inches x 3 inch- 
es,) and to one-seventh or one-eighth of their original 
weight. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 113 

c. Machines for Cutting Peat. 

In North Prussia, the Peat Cutting Machine of Bro- 
sowsky, see fig. 4, is extensively employed. It consists 
of a cutter, made like the four sides of a box, but with 
oblique edges, a^ which by its own weight, and by means 
of a crank and rack-work, operated by men, is forcc^ 
doAvn into the peat to a depth that may reach 20 feet. 
It can cut only at the edge of a ditch or excavation, and 
when it has penetrated sufficiently, a spade like blade, d^ 
is driven under the cutter by means of levers c, and thus 
a mass is loosened, having a vertical length of 10 fee.t or 
more, and whose other dimensions are about 24 x 28 inches. 
This is lifted by reversing the crank motion, and is then 
cut up by the spade into blocks of 14 inches x 6 inches x 5 
inches. Each parallelopipedon of peat, cut to a depth of 
10 feet, makes 144 sods, and this number can be cut in 
less than 10 minutes. Four hands will cut and lay out to 
dry, 12,000 to 14,000 peats daily, or 3100 cubic feet. One 
great advantage of this machine consists in the circum- 
stance that it can be used to raise peat from below the 
surface of water, rendering drainage in many cases un- 
necessary. Independently of this, it appears to be highly 
labor saving, since 1300 machines were put to use in 
Mecklenburg and Pomerania in about 5 years from its in- 
troduction. The Mecklenburg moors are now traversed 
by canals, cut by this machine, which are used for the 
transportation of the peat to market.* 

Lepreux in Paris, has invented a similar but more com- 
plicated machine, which is said to be very effective in its 
operation. According to Herve Mangon, this machine, 
when worked by two men, raises and cuts 40,000 peats 
daily, of which seven make one cubic foot, equal to 5600 

* For further account and plans of this machine see Dingler's Polytechnisches 
Journal, Bd. 176, S, 336. 




(114) 



Fig. 4.— bkosowsky's peat cuttbk. 



PEAT AS FFEL. 115 

cubic feet. The saving in expense by using this machine* 
is said to be 10 per cent. ^ when the peat to be raised is 
under water. 

11. — The Dredging of Peat. 

When peat exists, not as a coherent more or less fibrous 
mass, but as a paste or mud, saturated with water, it can- 
not be raised and formed by tlie methods above described. 

In such cases the peat is dredged from the bottom of the 
bog by means of an iron scoop, like a pail with sharp up- 
per edges, which is fastened to a long handle. The 
bottom is made of coarse sacking, so that the water 
may run off. Sometimes, a stout ring of iron with a 
bag attached, is employed in the same way. The fine 
peat is emptied from the dredge upon the ground, where 
it remains, until the water has been absorbed or .has 
evaporated, so far as to leave the mass somewhat firm 
and plastic. In the mean time, a drying bed is pre- 
pared by smoothing, and, if needful, stamping a sufficient 
space of ground, and enclosing it in boards 14 inches 
wide, set on edge. Into this bed the partially dried peat 
is thrown, and, as it cracks on the surface by drying, it 
is compressed by blows with a heavy mallet or flail, or by 
treading it with flat boards, attached to the feet, some- 
what like snow shoes. By this treatment the mass is re- 
duced to a continuous sheet of less than one-half its first 
thickness, and becomes so firm, that a man's step gives 
little impression in it. The boards are now removed, and 
it is cut into blocks by means of a very thin, sharp spade. 
Every other block being lifted out and placed crosswise 
upon those remaining, air is admitted to the whole and 
the drying goes on rapidly. This kind of peat is usually 
of excellent quality. In North Germany it is called 
" Baggertorf ," i. e. mud-peat. 

* Described and figured in Bulletin de la Societe d'Encouragement, August 
1857, p. 513; also Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal, Bd. 146, S. 252. 



116 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

Peat is sometimes dredged by machinery, as will be 
noticed hereafter. 

12.— The Moulding of Peat. 

When black, earthy or pitchy peat cannot be cut, and is 
not so saturated with water as to make a mud ; it is, after 
raking or picking out roots, etc., often worked into a paste 
by the hands or feet, with addition of water, until it can be 
formed into blocks which, by slow drying, acquire great 
firmness. In Ireland this product is termed " hand-peat." 
In Germany it is called " Formtorf," i. e. moulded peat, or 
" Backtorf," i. e. baked peat. 

The shaping is sometimes accomplished by plastering 
the soft mass into wooden moulds, as in making bricks. 

13. — Preparation of Peat Fuel by Machinery^ ete. 

Within the last 15 years, numerous inventions have 
been made with a view to improving the quality of peat 
fuel, as well as to expedite its production. These inven- 
tions are directed to the following points, viz. : 1. Con- 
densation of the peat, so as bring more ftiel into a given 
space, thus making it capable of giving out an inteuser 
heat ; at the same time increasing its hardness and tough- 
ness, and rendering it easier and more economical of 
transportation. 2. Drying by artifical heat or reducing 
the amount of water from 20 or 25 per cent, to half that 
quantity or less. This exalts the heating power in no in- 
considerable degree. 3. Charring. Peat-charcoal is as 
much better than peat, for use where intense heat is re- 
quired, as wood charcoal is better than wood. 4. Puri- 
fying from useless matters. Separation of earthy ad- 
mixtures which are incombustible and hinder draught. 

A. — Condensation by Pressure. 

Pressing Wet Peat. — The condensation of peat was 
first attempted by subjecting the fresh, wet material, to 
severe pressure. As long ago as the year 1 821, Pernitzsch, 



PEAT AS FUEL. 117 

in Saxony, prepared peat by this method, and shortly af- 
terwards Lord Willoiighby d'Eresby, in Scotland, and 
others, adopted the same principle. Simple pressure will, 
indeed, bring fresh peat at once into much smaller bulk ; 
but, if the peat be fibrous and light, and for this reason 
require condensation, it is also elastic, and, when the 
pressure is relieved, it acquires again much of its original 
volume. 

Furthermore, although pressure will squeeze out much 
water from a saturated well-ripened peat, the complete 
drying of the pressed blocks usually requires as much or 
more time than that of the unpressed material, on account 
of the closeness of texture of the surface produced by the 
pressure. 

The advantages of subjecting fresh peat to pressure in 
the ordinary presses, it is found, are more than offset by 
the expense of the operation, and it is therefore unneces- 
sary to give the subject further attention. 

Fresh peat appears however to have been advan- 
tageously pressed by other mechanical means. Two me- 
thods require notice. 

Mannhardfs Method^ invented about the year 1858, 
has been practically applied on the large scale at Schleiss- 
heim, Bavaria. Mannhardt's machine consists of two 
colossal iron rolls, each of 15 feet diameter, and 6| feet 
length, geared into each other so as to revolve horizontally 
in opposite directions and with equal velocity. These 
rolls are hollow, their circumference consists of stout iron 
plate perforated with numerous small holes, and is sup- 
ported by iron bars which connect the ends of the roll, 
having intervals between them of about one inch. Each 
roll is covered by an endless band of hair cloth, stretched 
over and kept in place by rollers. The rolls are operated 
by a steam engine of 12 horse power. The fresh peat is 



118 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

thrown into a liopper, and passing between the rolls, loses 
a considerable share of its water, issuing as a broad con- 
tinuous sheet, which is divided into blocks by an arrange- 
ment presently to be described. The cloth, covering the 
rolls, must have great strength, sufficient porosity to allow 
water to pass it freely, and such closeness of texture as to 
retain the fine particles of peat. Many trials have led to 
the use of a fabric, specially made for the purpose, of 
goat's hair. The cloth for each pair of rolls, costs $160. 

The peat at Schleissheim is about 5 feet in depth, and 
consists of a dark-brown mud or paste, free from stones 
and sticks, and penetrated only by fine fibers. The peat 
is thrown up on the edge of a ditch, and after draining, is 
moved on a tram-way to the machine. It is there thrown 
upon a chain of buckets, which deliver it at the hopper 
above the rolls. The rolls revolve once in 7^ minutes and 
at each revolution turn out a sheet of peat, which cuts in- 
to 528 blocks. Each block has, when moist, a length of 
about 12 inches, by 5 inches of width and 1^ inches of 
thickness, and weighs on the average 1^ lbs. The water 
that is pressed out of the peat, falls within the rolls and is 
conducted away ; it is but slightly turbid from suspended 
particles. The band of pressed peat is divided in one di- 
rection as it is formed, by narrow slats which are secured 
horizontally to the press-cloth, at about 5 inches distance 
from each other. The further division of the peat is ac- 
complished by a series of six circular saws, under which 
the peat is carried as it is released from the rolls, by a sys- 
tem of endless cords strung over rollers. These cords run 
parallel until the peat passes the saws ; thenceforth they 
radiate, so that the peat-blocks are separated somewhat 
from each other. They are carried on until they reach a 
roll, over which they are delivered upon drying lattices. 
The latter move regularly under the roll ; the peats ar- 
range themselves upon them edgewise, one leaning against 



PEAT AS FUEL. 119 

the other, so as to admit of free circulation of air. The 
lattices are loaded upon cars, and moved on a tram-way 
to the drying ground, where they are sot up in frames. 

The peat-cake separates well from the press-cloths; 
but the pores of the latter become somewhat choked by 
fine particles that penetrate them. They are therefore 
washed at each revolution by passing before a pipe from 
which issue, against them, a number of jets of water un- 
der high pressure. The blocks, after leaving the machine, 
are soft, and require 5 or 6 days to become air-dry. When 
dry they are dense and of good quality, but not better 
than the same raw material yields by simple moulding. 
The capacity of the rolls, which easily turn out 100,000 
peats in 24 hours, greatly exceeds at present that of the 
drying arrangements, and for this reason the works are 
not, as yet, remunerative. The rolls are, in reality, a sim- 
ple forming machine. The pressure they exert on the 
peat, is but inconsiderable, owing to its soft pasty charac- 
ter ; and since the pair of rolls costs $8000 and can only be 
worked 3 to 4 months, this method must be regarded 
rather as an ingenious and instructive essay in the art of 
making peat-fuel, than as a practical success. The per- 
severing efforts of the inventor may yet overcome all dif- 
ficulties and prove the complete efficacy of the method. 
It is especially important, that blocks of greater thickness 
should be produced, since those now made, pack together 
too closely in the fire. 

Neustadt Method. — At Neustadt, in Hanover, a loose- 
textured fibrous peat was prepared for metallurgical use 
in 1860, by passing through iron rolls of ordinary construc- 
tion. The peat was thereby reduced two-thirds in bulk, 
burned more regularly, gave a coherent coal, and with- 
stood carriage better. The peat was, however, first cut 
into sods of regular size, and these were fed into the 
rollers by boys. 



120 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

{b) JPressing Air-dried Peat. 

Some kinds of peat, when in the air-dry and pulverized 
state, yield by great pressure very firm, excellent, and 
economical fuel. 

Lithuanian Process. — In Lithuania, according to Leo,* 
the following method is extensively adopted. The bog 
is drained, the surface moss or grass-turf and roots are 
removed, and then the peat is broken up by a simple spade- 
plow, in furrows 2 inches wide and 8 or 10 inches deep. 
The broken peat is repeatedly traversed with wooden har- 
rows, and is thus pulverized and dried. When suitably 
dry, it is carried to a magazine, where it is rammed into 
moulds by a simple stamp of two hundred pounds weight. 
The broken peat is reduced to two-fifths its first bulk, and 
the blocks thus formed are so hard, as to admit of cutting 
with a saw or ax without fracture. They require no 
further drying, are of a deep-brown color, with lustrous 
surfaces, and their preparation may go on in winter with 
the stock of broken peat, which is accumulated in the 
favorable weather of summer. In this manufacture there 
is no waste of material. 

The peat is dry enough for pressing when, after forming 
in the hands to a ball, it will not firmly retain this shape, 
but on being let fall to the ground, breaks to powder. 
The entire cost of preparing 1000 peats for use, or mar- 
ket, was 2 Thalers, or $1.40. Thirty peats, or " stones " as 
they are called from their hardness, have the bulk of two 
cubic feet, and weigh 160 lbs. The cost of preparing a 
hundred weight, was therefore, (in 1859,) four Silver- 
groschen, or about 10 cents. 

The stamp is of simple construction, somewhat like a pile- 
driver, the mould and face of the ram being made of cast 
iron. The above process is not appUcable to fibrous peat. 

* Berg- und Huettenmaennische Zeitung, 1859, Nr. 26. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 121 

(c) Pressing Sot-dried Peat. 

The two methods to be next described, are similar to 
the last mentioned, save that the peat is hot-pressed. 

Gwynn^s Method. — In 1853, Gwynne of London, pat- 
ented machinery and a method for condensing peat for 
fuel. His process consisted, first, in rapidly drying and 
pulverizing the fresh peat by a centrifugal machine, or by 
j^assing between rollers, and subsequent exposure to heat 
in revolving cylinders ; and, second, in compressing the 
dry peat-powder in a powerful press at a high tempera- 
ture, about 180° F. By this heat it is claimed, that the 
jDcat is not only thoroughly dried, but is likewise partially 
decomposed; bituminous matters being developed^ which 
cement the particles to a hard dense mass. Gwynne's 
machinery was expensive and complicated, and although 
an excellent fuel was produced, the process appears not 
to have been carried out on the large scale with pecuniary 
success. 

A specimen of so-called " Peat coal " in the author's 
possession, made in Massachusetts some years ago, under 
Gwynne's patent, appears to consist of pulverized peat, 
prepared as above described ; but contains an admixture 
of rosin. It must have been an excellent fuel, but could 
not at that time compete with coal in this country. 

Exter's Method."^ 

In 1856, Exter, of Bavaria, carried into operation on an 
extensive scale, a plan of preparing peat-fuel in some re- 
spects not unlike the last mentioned method. Exter's 
works, belonging to the Bavarian Government, are on the 
Haspelmoor, situated between Augsburg and Munich. 
According to Ruehlmann, who examined them at the 

* Henneberg's Journal fuer Lundwii thschaft, 1858, S. 42. 

6 



122 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



command of the Hanoverian Government in 1857, the 
method is as follows: — 1. The 
bog is laid dry by drains and 
the surface is cleared of bush- 
es, roots, and grass-turf, down 
to good peat. 2. The peat is 
broken up superficially to the 
depth of about one inch, by a 
gang of three plows, propelled 
by a portable steam engine. 
3. The peat is further pulver- 
ized by a harrow, drawn by a 
yoke of oxen. 4. In two or 
three days after harrowing, 
the peat is turned by an im- 
plement like our cultivator, ^ig. 5.— extek's drying oven. 
this process being repeated at suitable intervals. 5. The 
fine and air-dry peat is gathered together by scrapers, 

and loaded into 





wagons ; 



then 



drawn by rope 
connected with 
the engine, to 
the press or 
magazine. 6. 
If needful, the 
peat, thus col- 
lected, is fur- 
ther pulverized 
by passing it 
through tooth- 
ed rollers. 7. 

i^ Ig. 0.— EXTER'S DRYING OVEN. Thc fiuC pCat is 

now introduced into a complicated drying oven, see figures 
5 and 6. It falls through the opening T^ and is moved by 



PEAT AS FUEL. 123 

means of tlie spirals along the horizontal floors 0, 0, fall- 
ing from one to another until it emerges at Q. The floors, 
O, (7, are made by wide and thin iron chambers, through 
which passes waste steam from an engine. The oven is 
heated further by hot air, which circulates through the 
canals K.^K. The peat occupies about one hour in its pas- 
sage through the oven and falls from §, into the press, 
having a temperature of from 120'^ to 140° Fahrenheit. 
The press employed at Staltach is essentially the same as 
that now used at the Kolbermoor, and figured on p. 125. 
It is a powerful eccentric of simple construction, and 
turns out continuously 40 finished peats per minute. Tliese 
occupy about one-fourth the space of the peat before 
pressing, the cubic foot weighing about 72 lbs. The j^eats 
are 7 inches long, 3 inches wide, and one half to three 
quarters of an inch thick, each weighing three quarters of 
a pound. Three presses furnish annually 180,000 cwt. of 
condensed peat, which is used exclusively for firing loco- 
motives. Its specific gravity is 1.14, and its quality as 
fuel is excellent. Ruehlmann estimated its cost, at Has- 
pelmoor in 1857, at 8j Kreuzers, or a little more than 6 
cents per cwt., and calculated that by adopting certain 
obvious improvements, and substituting steam power for 
the labor of men and cattle, the cost might be reduced to 
6i Kreuzers, or a little more than 4 cents per cwt. 

Exter's method has been adopted with some modifica- 
tions at Kolbermoor, near Munich, in Bavaria, at Miskolz, 
in Hungary, and also at the Neustadt Smelting Works, in 
Hanover. At the latter place, however, it aj)pears to have 
been abandoned for the reasons that it could be applied 
only to the better kinds of peat ; and the expense was there 
so great, that the finished article could not compete with 
other fuel in the Hanoverian markets. 

Details of the mechanical arrangements at present em- 
ployed on the Kolbermoor, are as follows : After the bog 



124 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



is drained, and the surface cleared of dwarf pines, etc., 
and suitably leveled, the peat is plowed by steam. This is 
accomplished in a way which the annexed cut serves to il- 
lustrate. The plot to be plowed, is traversed through 
the middle by the rail-way x,y. A locomotive a, sets in 
motion an endless wire-rope, which moves upon large 



0=5: 



■W 



~^^ 



Fig. 7. 

horizontal pulleys o,o, stationed at either border of the 
land. Four gang plows 5,5, are attached to the rope, and 
as the latter is set in motion, they break up the strip of 
peat they pass over, completely. The locomotive and the 
pulleys are then moved back, and the process is repeated 
until the whole field has been plowed. The plows are 
square frames, carrying six to eight shares and as many 
coulters. 

The press employed at Kolbermoor, is shown in figs. 8 and 
9. The hot peat falls into the hopper, h^c. The plunger c?, 
worked in the cavity 6, by an eccentric, allows the latter 
to fill with peat as it is withdrawn, and by its advance 
compresses it into a block. The blocks m, once formed, 
by their friction in the channel e, oppose enough resistance 
to the peat to efiect its compression. In order to regulate 
this resistance according to the varying quality of the 



PEAT AS FFEL. 



125 



peat, the piece of metal g^ which hangs on a pivot at o, is 
depressed or raised, by the screw ^, so as to contract or 




Fig. 8. — exter's peat press. 

enlarge the channel. At each stroke of the plunger a 
block is formed, and when the channel e is once filled, the 
peats fall continuously from its extremity. Their dimen- 
sions are 7 inches long, 3^ wide, and 1^ thick. 

Several presses are worked by 
the same engine at the Kolbermoor, 
each of which turns out daily 200 
to 300 cwt. of peats, which, in 
1863, were sold at 24 kreuzers 
(16 cents), per cwt. 

C. Hodgson has patented in 
Great Britain a compressing-ram 
similar to Exter's, and works were 
put up at Derrylea, in Ireland, 
some years ago, in which Exter's process of manufactur- 
ing peat fuel appears to have been adopted. 

Elsherg's Process. 

Dr. Louis Elsberg, of New York City, has invented a 
modification of Exter's method, which appears to be of 




Fig. 9.— exter's peat 

PRESS. 



126 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

great importance. His experiraental machine, which is in 
operation near Belleville, N. J., consists of a cylindrical 
pug-mill, in which the peat, air-dried as in Exter's method, 
is further broken, and at the same time is subjected to a 
current of steam admitted through a pipe and jacket sur- 
rounding the cylinder. The steamed peat is then con- 
densed by a pair of presses similar to that just described, 
which are fed directly fi*om the mill. In this way the 
complicated drying oven of Exter is dispensed with. 
Elsberg & Co. are still engaged in perfecting their ar- 
rangements. Some samples of their making are of very 
excellent quality, having a density of 1.2 to 1.3. 

The pressing of air-dry peat only succeeds when it is 
made warm, and is, at the same time, moist. In Exter's 
original process the peat is considerably dried in the ovens, 
but on leaving them, is so moist as to bedew the hand 
that is immersed in it. It is, in fact, steamed by the 
vaporization of its own water. In Elsberg's process, the 
air-dry peat is not further desiccated, but is made moist 
and warm by the admission of hot steam. The latter 
method is the more ready and doubtless the more econom- 
ical of the two. AVhether the former gives a dryer pro- 
duct' or not, the author cannot decide. Elsberg's peat oc- 
curs in cylindrical cakes 2 inches broad, and one inch in 
thickness. The cakes are somewhat cracked upon the 
edges, as if by contraction, in drying. When wet, the 
surface of the cakes swells up, and exfoliates as far as the 
water has penetrated. In the fire, a similar breaking 
away of the surface takes place, and when coked, the 
coal is but moderately coherent. 

The reasons why steamed peat admits of solidification 
by pressure, are simply that the air, ordinarily adhering to 
the fibres and particles, is removed, and the fibres them- 
selves become softened and more plastic, so that pressure 
brings them into intimate contact. The idea that the heat 



PEAT AS FUEL, 127 

developes bituminous matters, or fuses the resins which 
exist in peat, and that these cement the particles, does not 
harmonize with the fact that the peat, thus condensed, 
flakes to pieces by a short immersion in water. 

The great advantage of Exter's and Elsberg's method 
consists in avoidmg what most of the others require, viz. : 
the expensive transportation and handling of fresh peat, 
which contains 80 to 90 per cent, of water, and the rapid 
removal of this excess of water before the manufacture. 
In the other methods the surplus water must be slowly 
removed during or after condensation. 

Again, enough peat may be air-dried and stored during 
summer weather, to supply a machine with work during 
the whole year. 

Its disadvantages are, that it requires a large outlay of 
capital and great expenditure of mechanical force. Its 
product is, moreover, not adapted for coking. 

B. — Condensation without Pressure. 

The methods of condensing peat, that remain to be 
described, are based upon radically different princi- 
ples from those already noticed. In these, little or no 
pressure is employed in the operations ; but advantage is 
taken of the important fact that when wet or moist peat 
is ground, cut or in any way reduced to a pulpy or pasty 
consistence, with destruction of the elastic fibres, it will, 
on drying, shrink together to a coherent mass, that may 
acquire a density and toughness much greater than it is 
possible to obtain by any amount of mere pressure. 

The various processes that remain to notice are essenti- 
ally reducible to two types, of which the French method, 
invented by Challeton, and the German, invented it ap- 
pears by Weber, are the original representatives. The 
former method is only applicable to earthy, well-decom- 



128 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

posed peat, containing little fibre. The latter was origi- 
nally applied to fibrous moss-jjeat, but has since been 
adapted to all kinds. Other inventors, English, German, 
and American, have modified these methods in their de- 
tails, or in the construction of the requisite machinery, 
rendering them more j^erfect in their execution and per- 
haps more profitable in their results ; but, as regards the 
essential imncijiles of production, or the quality of pro- 
duct, no advance appears to have been made beyond the 
original inventors. 

(a) Conde7isatio7i of Earthy Peat. 

Challet07i^s Method consists essentially in destroying 
the fibres, and reducing the peat by cutting and grinding 
with water to a jxilp ; then slowly removing the liquid, 
until the peat dries away to a hard coherent mass. It 
provides also for the purification of the peat from earthy 
matters. It is, in many respects, an imitation of the old 
Dutch and Irish mode of making " hand peat " {Bagger- 
torf)^ and is very like the paper manufacture in its opera- 
tions. Challeton's Works, situated near Paris, at Menne- 
cy, near Montanges, were visited in 1856 by a Commission 
of the Agricultural Society of Holstein, consisting of 
Drs. Meyn and Luetkens, and also by Dr. Ruehlmann, in 
the interest of the Hanoverian Government. From their 
account* the following statements are derived. 

The peat at Mennecy comes from the decay of grasses, 
is black, well decomposed, and occasionally intermingled 
with shells and sand. The moor is traversed by canals, 
which serve for the transport of the excavated peat in 
boats. The peat, when brought to the manufactory, is 
emptied into a cistern, which, by communicating with the 
adjacent can:il, maintains a constant level of water. From 

* Henneberg's Journal fuer Landwiithschaft, 1858, p.p. 42 and 83. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 129 

this cistern the peat is caiTied up by a chain of buckets 
and emptied into a hopper, where it is caught by toothed 
cyhnders in rapid revohition, and cut or torn to pieces. 
Thence it passes into a chamber where the fine parts are 
separated from unbroken roots and fibres by revolving 
brushes, which force the former through small holes in the 
walls of the chamber, Avhile the latter are swept out 
through a larger passage.- The pulverized peat finally 
falls into a cistern, in which it is agitated by revolving 
arms. A stream of water constantly enters this vessel 
from beneath, while a chain of buckets as rapidly carries 
ofi* the peat pulp. All sand, shells, and other heavy mat- 
ters, remain at the bottom of this cistern. 

The peat pulp, thus purified, flows through wooden 
troughs into a series of basins, in which the peat is formed 
and dried. These basins are made upon the ground by 
putting up a square frame (of boards on edge,) about one 
foot deep, and placing at the bottom old matting or a 
layer of flags or reeds. Each basin is about a rod square, 
and 800 of them are employed. They are filled with the 
peat pulp to the top. In a few days the water either 
filters away into the ground, or evaporates, so that a 
soft stratum of peat, about 3 inches in thickness, remains. 
Before it begins to crack from drying, it is divided into 
blocks, by pressing into it a light trellis-like framework, 
having thin partitions that serve to indent the peat in 
lines corresponding to the intended divisions. On further 
drying, the mass separates into blocks at the lines thus 
impressed, and in a few days, they are ready to remove 
and arrange for further desiccation. 

The finished peats from Challeton's works, as well as 
those made by the same method near Neuchatel, Switzer- 
land, by the Messrs. Roy, were of excellent quality, and 
in the opinion of the Commission from Holstein, the 
6* 



130 PE^T AND ITS USES. 

method is ndmirably adapted for the purification and con- 
centration of the heavy kinds of peat. 

In Holstein, a French company constructed, and in 1857 
worked successfully a portable machine for preparing peat 
on this plan, but were shortly restrained by legal proceed- 
ings. Of their later operations we have no information. 

No data are at hand regarding the cost of producing 
fuel by Challeton's machinery. It is believed, however, 
that his own works were unremunerative, and several 
manufactories on his pattern, erected in Germany, have 
likewise proved unprofitable. The principle is, however, 
a good one, though his machinery is only applicable to 
earthy or pitchy, and not to very fibrous peat. It has 
been elsewhere applied with satisfactory results. 

Shnplified machinery for appljdng Challeton's method 
is in operation at Langenberg, near Stettin, in Prussia.* 
The moss-meadows along the river Oder, near which Lan- 
genberg is situated, are but a foot or so higher at the sur- 
face than the medium level of this river, and are subject 
to frequent and sudden inundations, so that draining and 
partial drying of the peat are out of the question. The char- 
acter of the peat is unadapted to cutting by hand, since 
portions of it are pitchy and crumble too easily to form 
good sods ; and others, usually the lower layers, at a depth 
of seven feet or more, are made up to a considerable ex- 
tent of quite firm reeds and flags, having the consistence 
of half decayed straw. The earthy peat is manufactured 
after Challeton's method. It is raised with a steam dredger 
of 20 horse power, and emptied into flat boats, seven in 
number, which are drawn to the works by an endless rope 
operated by horse power. The works themselves are situ- 
ated on a small sand hill in the middle of the moor, and com. 
municate by canal with the dredger and with the drying 

* Dingler's Journal, Oct., 1864- 



PEAT AS FUEL. 131 

ground. A chain of buckets, working in a frame 45 feet 
long, attached by a horizontal hinge to the top of the 
machine house, reaches over the dock where the boats 
haul up, into the rear end of the latter ; and, as the buckets 
begin to raise the peat, the boat itself is moved under the 
frame towards the house, until, with a man's assistance, 
its entire load is taken up. The contents of one boat are 
six square yards, with a depth of one foot, and a boat is 
emptied in 20 minutes time. Forty to forty-four boat- 
loads are thus passed into the pulverizing machine daily, 
by two chains of buckets. 

The peat-mud falls from the buckets into a large wooden 
trcTugh, which branches into two channels, conducting to 
two large tubs standing side by side. These tubs are 10 
feet in diameter and 2 feet deep, and are made of 2-inch 
plank. Within each tub is placed concentrically a cylin- 
drical sieve, or colander, 8 feet in diameter and 2 feet 
high, made of f round iron, and it is within this that the 
peat is emptied. The peat is stirred and forced through 
the meshes of the sieve by four arms of a shaft tiiat re- 
volves 20 times per minute, the arms carrying at their ex- 
tremities stiff vertical brooms, which rub the inside of 
the sieve. 

In these four tubs the peat is pulverized under addition 
of water ; the fine parts pass the sieves, while the latter 
retain the coarse fibres, roots, etc. The peat-mud flows 
from the tubs into mills, made like a flour mill, but the 
" stones " constructed of hard wood. The " stones " have 
a diameter of 8 feet 6 inches ; the lower is 8 inches ; the up- 
per 21 inches thick. The pressure of the upper " stone " 
is regulated by adjusting the level of the discharging 
channel, so that the *' stone " may be more or less buoyed, 
or even fully floated by the water with which it is sur- 
rounded. 



132 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

The peat-substance, which is thus finely ground, gathers 
from the four mills into a common reservoir whence it is 
lifted by a centrifugal pump into a trough, which distrib- 
utes it over the drying ground. 

The drying ground consists of the surface formed by 
grading the sand hill, on which the works are built, and 
includes about 30 English acres. This is divided into 
small plots, each of which is enclosed on three sides with a 
wall of earth, and on the fourth side by boards set on edge. 
Each plot is surrounded by a ditch to carry off water, 
and by means of portable troughs, the peat is let on from 
the main channel. The peat-slime is run into these beds 
to the depth of 20 to 22 inches, an acre being covered 
daily. After 4 to 8 days, according to the weather, the 
peat has lost so much water, which rapidly soaks off 
through the sand, that its surface begins to crack. It is 
then thoroughly trodden by men, shod with boards 5 
inches by 10 inches, and after 6 to 8 days more, it is cut 
with sharp spades into sods. The peats are dried in the 
usual manner. 

The works at Langenberg-yielded, in 1863, as the result 
of the operations of 60 days of 12 hours each, 125,000 
cwt. of marketable peat. It is chiefly employed for me- 
tallurgical purposes, and sells at 3^ Silvergroschen, or 
nearly 8 cents per cwt. The specific gravity of the peat 
ranges from 0.73 to 0.90. 

Roberts' Process. 

In this country attempts have been made to apply 
Challeton's method. In 1865, Mr. S. Roberts, of Pekin, 
N, Y., erected machinery at that j^lace, which was de- 
scribed in the " Buffalo Express," of Nov. 17, 1865, as 
follows : — 

" In outward form, the machine was like a small frame 
house on wheels, supposing the smoke-stack to be a chim- 



PEAT AS FUEL. 133 

ney. The engine and boiler are of locomotive style ; the 
engine being of thirteen horse power. The principal fea- 
tures of the machine are a revolving elevator and a con- 
veyer. The elevator is seventy-five feet long, and runs 
from the top of the machine to the ground, where the peat 
is dug up, placed on tlie elevator, carried to the top of the 
machine, and dropped into a revolving wheel that cuts it 
up ; separates from it all the coarse particles, bits of sticks, 
stones, etc. ; and throws them to one side. The peat is 
next dropped into a box below, where water is passed in, 
sufficient to bring it to the consistency of mortar. By 
means of a slide under the control of the engineer, it is 
next sent to the rear of the machine, where the conveyer, 
one hundred feet long, takes it, and carries it within two 
rods of the end ; at which point the peat begins to drop 
through to the ground to the depth of about four or five 
inches. When sufficient has passed through to cover the 
ground to the end of the conveyer, — two rods, — the con- 
veyer is swung around about two feet, and the same 
process gone through, as fast as the ground under the ele- 
vator, for the distance of two rods in length and two feet 
in width gets covered, the elevator being moved. At 
each swing of the elevator, the peat just spread is cut in- 
to blocks (soft ones, however) by knives attached to the 
elevator. It generally takes from three to four weeks be- 
fore it is ready for use. It has to lie a week before it is 
touched, after the knives pass through it; when it is 
turned over, and allowed to lie another week. It has then 
to be taken up, and put in a shed, and within a week or 
ten days can be used, although it is better to let it remain 
a little longer time. The machine can spread the peat 
over eighteen square rods of ground — taking out one 
square rod of peat — without being moved. After the 
eighteen rods are covered, the machine is moved two 
rods ahead, enabling it to again spread a semicircular 



134 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

space of some thirty-two feet in width by eighteen rods 
in length. The same power, which drives the engine, 
moves the machine. It is estimated by Mr. Roberts, that, 
by the nse of this machine, from twenty to thirty tons of 
peat can be turned out in a day." 

Mr. Roberts informs us that he is making (April 1866,) 
some modifications of his machinery. He employs a 
revolving digger to take up the peat from the bed, and 
carry it to the machine. At the time of going to press, 
we do not learn whether he regards his experiments as 
leading to a satistactory conclusion, or otherwise. 

Siemejis' method. 

Siemens, Professor of Technology, in the Agricultural 
Academy, at Hohenheim, successfully applied the follow- 
ing mode of preparing peat for the Beet Sugar Manufac- 
tory at Boeblingen, near Hohenheim, in the year 1857. 
Much of the peat there is simply cut and dried in the 
usual manner. There is great waste, however, in this 
process, owing to the frequent occurrence of shells and 
clay, which destroy the coherence of the peat. Besides, 
a large quantity of material accumulates in the colder 
months, from the ditches which are then dug, that cannot 
be worked in the usual manner at that time of the year. 
It was to economize this otherwise useless material that 
the following process was devised, after a failure to em- 
ploy Challeton's method with profit. 

In the first place, the peat was dumped into a boarded 
cistern, where it was soaked and worked with water, until 
it could be raised by a chain of buckets into the pulver- 
izer. 

The pulverization of the peat was next efiected by pas- 
sing it through a machine invented by Siemens, for pulping 
potatoes and beets. This machine, (the same we suppose 



PEAT AS FUEL. 135 

as that described and figured in Otto's Landwirthschaft- 
liche Gewerbe), perfectly breaks up and grates the peat 
to a fine pulp, delivers it in the consistency of mortar 
into the moulds, made of wooden frames, with divisions 
to form the peats. The peat-paste is plastered by hand 
into these moulds, which are immediately emptied to fill 
again, while the blocks are carried away to the drying 
ground where they are cured in the ordinary style with- 
out cover. 

In this simple manner 8 men were able to make 10,000 
peats daily, which, on drying, were considerably denser 
and harder than the cut peat. 

The peat thus prepared, cost about one-third more than 
the cut peat. Siemens reckoned, this greater cost would 
be covered by its better heating effect, and its ability to 
withstand transportation without waste by crumbling. 

(6) Condensation of fibrous peat. 

Weber'^s method. 

At Staltach, in Southern Bavaria, "Weber has established 
an extensive peat works, of which Vogel has given a cir- 
cumstantial account.* The peat at Staltach is very light 
and fibrous, but remarkably free from mineral matters, 
containing less than 2 per cent, of ash in the perfectly dry 
substance. The moor is large, (475 acres), and the peat 
is from 12 to 20 feet in depth. The preparation consists 
in converting the fresh peat into pulp or paste, forming it 
into moulds and drying it ; at first by exposure to the 
air at ordinary temperature, and finally, by artificial heat, 
in a drying house constructed for the purpose. 

The peat is cut out by a gang of men, in large masses, 
cleared of coarse roots and sticks, and pushed on tram 



* Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal, Bd. 152, S. 272. See also, Knapp, 
Lehibuch der Chemischen Technologic. 3te Auflage, 1., 167. 



136 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



wagons to the works, which are situated lower than the 
surface of the bog. Arrived at the works, the peat is 
carried upon an inclined endless apron, up to a platform 
10 feet high, where a workman pushes it into the pulver- 
izing mill, the construction of which is seen from the ac- 
companying cut. The vertical shaft 5 is armed with 




Fig. 10. — WEBER's PEA.T MILL. 

sickle-shaped knives, cZ, which revolve between and cut 
contrary to similar knives c, fixed to the interior of the 
vessel. The latter is made of iron, is 3|- feet high, 2 feet 
across at top and 1^ feet wide at the bottom. From the 
base of the machine at g^ the perfectly pulverized or 
minced peat issues as a stifi" paste. If the peat is dry, a 
little water is added. Yogel found the fresh peat to con- 
tain 90 per cent.^ of water, the pulp 92 per cent. Weber's 
machine, operated by an engine of 10 horse power, work- 
ing usually to half its capacity only, reduced 400 cubic feet 
of peat per hour, to the proper consistency for moulding. 
Three modes of forming the paste into blocks have been 
practiced. One was in imitation of that employed with 
mud-peat. The paste was carried by railway to sheds, 



PEAT AS FUEL. 137 

where it was filled by hand into moulds 17 inches by 7J by 
5| inches, and put upon frames to dry. These sheds oc- 
cupied together 52,000 square feet, and contained at once 
200,000 peats. The peats remained here 8 to 14 days or 
more, according to the weather, when they were either re- 
moved to the drying house, or piled in large stacks to dry 
slowly out-of-doors. The sheds could be filled and emp- 
tied at least 12 times each season, and since they protected 
from light frosts, the season began in April and lasted 
until November. 

The second mode of forming the peat was to run off i 
the pulp into large and deep pits, excavated in the ground, 
and provided with drains for carrying off water. The 
water soaked away into the soil, and in a few weeks of 
good weather, the peat was stiff enough to cut out into 
blocks by the spade, having lost 20 to 25 per cent, of its 
water, and 15 per cent, of its bulk. The blocks were re- 
moved to the drying sheds, and set upon edge in the 
spaces left by the shrinking of the peats made by the 
other method. The working of the peat for the pits 
could go on, except in the coldest weather, as a slight 
covering usually sufiiced to protect them from frost. 

Both of these methods have been given up as too ex- 
pensive, and are replaced, at present, by the following : 

In the third method the peat-mass falls from the mill in- 
to a hopper, which directs it between the rolls ^ ^ of 
fig. 11, (see next page). The roll A has a series of 
boxes on its periphery m m, with movable bottoms which 
serve as moulds. The peat is carried into these boxes by 
the rolls c c. The iron projections n n of the large roll 
^, which work cog-like into the boxes, compress the peat 
gently and, at last, the eccentric p acting upon the pin z, 
forces up the movable bottom of the box and throws out 
the peat-block upon an endless band of cloth, which car- 
ries it to the drying place. 



138 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



The peats which are dried at first under cover and there- 
fore slowly, shrink more evenly and to a greater extent 
than those which are allowed to dry rapidly. The latter 
become cracked upon the surface and have cavities inter- 
nally, which the former do not. This fact is of great im- 
portance for the density of the peat, for its usefulness in pro- 
ducing intense heat, and its power to withstand carriage. 




Fig. 11 —WEBER'S PEAT MOULDING MACHINE. 

The complete drying is, on the other hand, by this 
method, a much slower process, smce the dense, fissure- 
less exterior of the peats hmders the escape of water from 
within. It requires, in fact, several months of ordinary 
drying for the removal of the greater share of the water, 
and at the expiration of this time they are still often moist 
in the interior. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 139 

Artificial drying is therefore employed to produce the 
most compact, driest, and best fuel. 

Weber's Drying- house is 120 feet long and 46 feet 
wide. Four large flues traverse the whole length of it, 
and are heated with the pine roots and stumps which 
abound in the moor. These flues are enclosed in brick- 
work, leaving a narrow space for the passage of air from 
without, which is heated by the flues, and is discharged at 
various openings in the brick-work into the house itself, 
where the peat is arranged on frames. The warm air be- 
ing light, ascends through the peat, charges itself with 
moisture, thereby becomes heavier and falls to the floor, 
whence it is drawn off by flues of sheet zinc that pass up 
through the roof. This house holds at once 300,000 peats, 
which are heated to 130° to 145° F., and require 10 to 14 
days for drying. 

The effect of the hot air upon the peat is, in the first 
place, to soften and cause it to swell ; it, however, shortly 
begins to shrink again and dries away to masses of great 
solidity. It becomes almost horny in its character, can 
be broken only by a heavy blow, and endures the rough- 
est handling without detriment. Its quality as fuel is cor- 
respondingly excellent. 

The effects of the mechanical treatment and drying on 
the Staltach peat, are seen from the subjoined figures: 

Specific Lbs. per Cubic Per cent, of 
Gravity. Foot. Water. 

Peat, raised and dried in usual way, 0.24 IS .18 to 20 

Machine- worked and hot-dried 0.65 35 12 

Yogel estimates the cost of peat made by Weber's 
method at 5 Kreuzers per (Bavarian) hundred weight, 
while that of ordinary peat is 13| Kreuzers. Schroeder, in 
his comparison of machine-wrought and ordinary peat, de- 
monstrates that the latter can be produced much cheaper 
than was customary in Bavaria, in 1859, by a better sys- 
tem of labor. 



140 



PEA.T AND ITS USES. 



Weber's method was adopted with some improvements 
in an extensive works built in 1860, by the Government of 
Baden, at Willaringen, for the purpose of raising as much 
fuel as possible, during the course of a lease that expired 
with the year 1865. 

Gyssefs method.^ — Rudolph Gysser, of Freiburg, who 




Fig. 12. — GEYSSEIi'S PEAT MACHINE. 

was charged with the erection of the works at Willarin- 
gen just alluded to, invented a portable hand-machine on 

* Der Torf; seine Bildung und Bereitungsweise, von Rudolph Gysser, 
Weimar, 1864. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 



141 



the general plan of Weber, but with important improve- 
ments ; and likewise omitted and varied some details of 
the manufacture, bringing it within the reach of parties 
of small means. 

In the accompanying cuts, (figs. 12, 13, and 14), are 
given an elevation of Gysser's machine, together with a 
bird's-eye view and vertical section of the interior 
mechanism. 

It consists of a cast iron funnel cdioi the elevation, (fig. 
12), having above a sheet iron hopper a b to receive the 
peat, and within a series of six knives fastened in a spiral, 





Fig. 13. 



Fig. 14. 



and curving outwards and downwards, (figs. 13 and 14) ; 
another series of three similar knives is affixed to a verti- 
cal shaft, which is geared to a crank and turned by a man 
standing on the platform j k ; these revolving knives 
curve upwards and cut between and in a direction con- 
trary to the fixed knives ; below the knives, and affixed to 
the shaft a spiral plate of iron and a scraper m, (fig. 13), 
serve to force the peat, which has been at once minced and 
carried downwards by the knives, as a somewhat com- 
pressed mass through the lateral opening at the bottom 
of the funnel, whence it issues as a continuous hollow 



142 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



cylinder like drain-tile, having a diameter of four inches. 
The iron cone i, held in the axis of the opening by the 
thin and sharp-edged sup23ort g A, forms the bore of the 
tube of peat as it issues. Two men operate the machine ; 
one turning the crank, which, by suitable gearing, works 
the shaft, and the other digging and 
throwing in the peat. The mass, as it 
Fi^. 15. issues from the machine, is received by 

two boys alternately, who hold below the opening a semi- 
cylindrical tin-plate shovel, (fig. 15), of the width and 
length of the required peats, and break or rather wipe 
them off, when they reach the length of 14 inches. 

The formed peats are dried in light, cheap and portable 
houses, Fig. 17, each of which consists of six rectangular 
frames supported one above another, and covered by a 
light roof. The frames. Fig. 16, have square posts at each 
corner like a bedstead, and are made by nailing light 
strips to these posts. The tops of these posts are obtusely 
beveled to an edge, and at 
the bottom they are notch- 
ed to correspond. The 
direction of the edges and 
of the notches in two dia- 
gonally opposite posts, is 
at right angles to that of Fig. 16. 

the other two. By this construction the frames, being of 
the same size, when placed above each other, fit together 
by the edges and notches of their posts into a structure 
that cannot be readily overturned. The upper frame has 
a light shingled roof, which completes the house. Each 
frame has transverse slats, cast in plaster of Paris, 20 in 
number, which support the peats. The latter being tu- 
bular, dry more readily, uniformly, and to a denser con- 
sistence than they could otherwise. 

The machine being readily set up where the peat is ex- 




PEAT AS FUEL. 



143 



cavated, the labor of transporting the fresh and water- 
soaked material is greatly reduced. The drying-frames 
are built up into houses as fast as they are filled from the 
machine. They can be set up anywhere without difficulty, 
require no leveling of the ground, and, once filled, no 
labor in turning or stacking the peats is necessary ; while 
the latter are insured against damage from rain. These 
advantages, Gysser claims, more than cover their cost. 




Fig. 17. 



The daily production of a machine operated by two 
men with the assistance of one or two boys, is 2500 to 
3000 jjeats, which, on drying, have 9| to 10 inches of 
length, and 2g in diameter, and weigh, on the average, 
one pound each. 



144 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



(c) — Condensation of peat of all kinds. — Weher^s 
method with modified machinery. 

SchlicJcey sen's Machine.* — This machine has been in 
use in Germany since 1860, in the preparation of peat. 
It appears to have been originally constructed for the 
working and moulding of clay for making bricks. The 
principle of its operation is identical with that of Weber's 
process. The peat is finely pulverized, worked into a 
homogenous mass, and moulded into suitable forms. Like 




Fie:. 18. — schl,icketsen's peat mill. 



Gysser's machine, it forces the peat under some pressure 
through a nozzle, or, in the larger kinds through several 
nozzles, whence it issues in a continuous block or pipe that is 
cut off in proper lengths, either by hand or by mechanism 
It consists of a vertical cylinder, through the axis of Avhich 
revolves a shaft, whereon are fastened the blades, whose 
edges cut and whose winding figure forces down the peat. 
The blades are arranged nearly, but not exactly, in a true 
spiral ; the effect is therefore that they act unequally up- 

* Dingler's Journal, Bd. 165, S. 184. ; und Bd. 172, S. 333. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 145 

on the mass, and thus mix and divide it more perfectly. 
No blades or projections are affixed to the interior of the 
cylinder. Above, where the peat enters into a flaring 
hopper, is a scraper, that prevents adhesion to the sides 
and gives downward propulsion to the peat. The blades 
are, by this construction, very strong, and not liable to in- 
jury from small stones or roots, and effectually reduce the 
toughest and most compact peat. 

Furthermore, addition of water is not only unnecessary 
in any case, but the peat may be advantageously air- 
dried to a considerable extent before it enters the machine. 
Wet peat is, indeed, worked with less expenditure of 
power ; but the moulded peats are then so soft as to re- 
quire much care in the handling, and must be spread out 
in single courses, as they will not bear to be placed one 
upon another. Peat, that is somewhat dry, though re- 
quiring more power to work, leaves the machine in blocks 
that can be piled up on edge and upon each other, six or 
eight high, without difficulty, and require, of course, less 
time for curing. 

The cut, (fig. 18), represents one of Schlickey sen's port- 
able peat-mills, with elevator for feeding, from which an 
idea of the pulverizing arrangements may be gathered. 

In Livonia, near Pernau, according to Leo, two of 
Schlickeysen's machines, No. 6, were put in operation up- 
on a purely fibrous peat. They were driven by an engine 
of 12 horse-power. The peat was plowed, once harrow- 
ed,' then carted directly to the hopper of the machine. 
These two machines, with 26 men and 4 horses, produced 
daily 60,000 peats = 7500 cubic feet. 100 cubic feet of 
these peats were equal in heating effect to 130 cubic feet of 
fir- wood, and cost but two-thirds as much. The peats were 
extremely hard, and dried in a few days sufficiently for 
use. In 1864, five large Schlickey sen machines were in 
operation at one establishment at St. Miskolz, in Hungary. 
7 



146 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

The smaller sizes of Schlickey sen's machine are easily- 
portable, and adapted for horse or hand-power. 

IJeavitfs Peat-condensing and Moidding Mill* — In 
this country, Mr. T. H. Leavitt, of Boston, has patented 
machinery, which is in operation at East Lexington, 
Mass., at the works of the Boston Peat Company. The 
process is essentially identical with that of Weber, the 
hot-drying omitted. The fresh peat is pulverized or cut 
fine, moulded into blocks, and dried on light frames in 
the open air. The results claimed by Mr. Leavitt, indi- 
cate, that his machine is very efficacious. 

It consists, principally, of a strong box or cistern, three 
feet in diameter, and six feet high, the exterior of which, 
with its gearing, is shown in figure 19. The mill is 
adapted to be driven by a four horse-power engine. 

" The upper portion of the box is divided by a series of 
horizontal partitions, the upper ones being open lattice- 
work, and the lower ones perforated with numerous holes. 
The upright shaft, which rotates in the centre of the box, 
carries a series of arms or blades, extending alternately 
on opposite sides, and as these revolve, they cut the peat, 
and force it through the openings in the diaphragms. 
The lower portion of the box, in place of complete parti- 
tions, has a series of corrugated shelves extending alter- 
nately from opposite sides, and the peat is pressed and 
scraped from these by a series of arms adapted to the 
work. By this series of severe operations the air-bubbles 
are expelled from the peat, and it is reduced to a homo- 
geneous paste. When it arrives at the bottom of the 
box, it is still farther compressed by the converging sides 
of the hopper, and it is received in light moulds which are 
carried on an endless belt." Mr. Leavitt has patented the 



* Scientific American, Feb. 10, 1866 ; also, Facts about Peat as Fuel, by T. 
H. Leavitt, 2d Ed., Boston, p. 33. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 



147 



use of powdered peat for the purpose of preventing the 
prepared peat from adhering to the moulds. 

This mill, it is asserted, will condense 40 tons of crude 
peat daily, which, at Lexington, is estimated to yield 10 
to 14 tons of dry merchantable fuel. The cost of pro- 




Fig, 19.— leavitt's peat mill. 



ducing the latter is asserted to be less than $2.00 per 
ton ; while its present value, in Boston, is $10 per ton. 
It requires seven m*en, three boys, and two horses to dig, 
cart, mill, and spread the peat. The machine costs $600, 



148 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

the needful buildings, engine, etc., from $2000 to $3000. 
The samples of peat, manufactured by this machine, are 
of excellent quality. The drying in the open air is said 
to proceed with great rapidity, eight or ten days being 
ordinarily sufficient in the summer season. The dry peat, 
at Lexington, occupies one-fourth the bulk, and has one- 
fourth to one-third the weight of the raw material ; the 
latter, as we gather, being by no means saturated with 
water, but well drained, and considerably dry, before 
milling. 

Ashcroft <& Bettelejfs Machinery. 

The American Peat Company, of Boston, are the own- 
ers of five patents, taken out by Messrs. Ashcroft & Bet- 
teley, for peat machinery. They claim to "make fuel 
equal to the best English Cannel coal," and really do 
make a very good peat, though with a rather complicated 
apparatus. The following statement is derived from the 
circular issued by the company. The machinery consists 
of the following parts : — 

First. — Triturating Machine — 36 inches diameter, 4 
feet 6 inches high, Avith arms both on the inside of this 
cylinder and on the upright revolving shaft. In the bot- 
tom of the cylinder or tub a large slide gate is fitted to 
work with a lever, so that the peat may be discharged, 
at pleasure, into the Combing Machine, which is placed 
directly under this Triturator. 

Second, — Combing Machini! — Semi-circular vessel 6 
feet long and 3 feet 6 inches in diameter. Inside, a shaft 
is placed, which is provided with fingers, placed one inch 
apart ; the fingers to be 20 inches long, so as to reach 
within 2 inches of the bottom and sides of this vessel. 
Another shaft, of the same size and dimensions, is placed 
at an angle of 45^*, 26 inches from the first shaft, with 
arms of the same dimensions placed upon this shaft, with 



PEAT AS FUEL. 149 

the same spaces, and so placed that this set of arms pass 
between the first set, both shafts revolving in the same 
direction; the second shaft mentioned being driven at 
double the speed of the first. At the bottom of this 
Combing Machine is to be fixed a gate, to be operated by 
a lever, to deliver, at pleasure, the cleansed peat into the 
Manipulator or Kneeding Machine. 

Third. — Manipulatoe. — A Tube of iron 7 feet long 
and 16 inches diameter, fitted with a shaft, with flanges 
upon it, to gain 6 inches in each revolution. 

Fourth. — Conveyor. — ^This Conveyor, to be made with 
two endless chains and buckets of iron, with a driving 
shaft. The hopper, to receive the peat when first taken 
from the bog, to be placed below the surface of the 
ground, so that the top edge of the hopper may be level 
with the surface, that the peat may be dumped from the 
car by which it is taken from the bog, and carried to the 
hopper without hand labor ; and this conveyor to be so 
arranged that the peat will be delivered into the Tritu- 
rator without hand labor. 

Fifth. — Conveyor. — Another conveyor, precisely like 
the one above described, is to be placed so as to convey 
the peat from the Manipulator into the Tank Avithout hand 
labor. 

Sixth. — Tank. — A tank 35 feet high and 15 feet in di- 
ameter; the bottom of this tank is made sloping to- 
wards the sides, at an angle of 65^, and is covered with 
sole tile or drain tile, and the entire inside of this tank is 
also ribbed with these tile ; the ends of these pipes of tile 
being left open, so that the water which percolates through 
the pores of the tile, by the pressure of the column of 
peat, will pass out at the bottom, through the false floor 
of the tank into the drain, and the solid peat is retained in 
the tank. A worm is fixed in the bottom of this tank, 
which is driven by machinery, which forces out the peat 



150 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



in the form of brick, which are cut to any length, and 
stacked up in sheds, for fuel, after it is fully dried by the 
air. 

Versmannh Machine.^ — This machine, see Fig. 20, 
was invented by a German engineer, in London, and was 
patented there in Sept., 1861. It consists of a funnel or 
hollow cone J, of boiler-plate, from one to two feet in 
diameter at top, and perforated with 200 to 300 small 
holes per square foot of surface, within which rapidly re- 




Fig. 20.— versmann's peat pulverizer. 

volves an iron cone a, carrying on its circumference two 
spiral knives. The peat thrown in at the top of the fun- 
nel is carried down by the knives, and at once cut or 
broken and forced in a state of fine division through the 
holes of the funnel, as through a colander. The fine peat 
collects on the inclined bottom of the chamber J, whence 
it is carried by means of Archimedean screws to a mould- 
ing machine. The coarse stufif that escaj^es pulverization 
falls through e into the cavity c. It may be employed as 
fuel for the engine, or again put through the machine. 

* Dingler's Journal, Bd. 168, S. 306, und Bd. 172, S. 332. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 151 

This machine effects a more perfect pulverization of the 
peat, than any other hitherto described. This extreme 
division is, however, unnecessary to the perfection of the 
product, and is secured at great expense of power. 
.Through the opening at the bottom of the funnel, much 
unpulverized peat finds its way, which must be continu- 
ally returned to the machine. Again, stones, entering the 
funnel, are likely to break or damage the spiral knives, 
which bear close to the walls of the funnel. 

The pulverized peat must be moulded by hand, or by a 
separate instrument. 

Buchlandi's Machine^ is identical in principle with 
Versmann's, and in construction differs simply in the fact 
of the interior cone having spiral grooves instead of spiral 
knives. This gives greater simplicity and durability to 
the machine. It appears, however, to require too much 
power to work it, and can hardly equal other machines in 
the quantity of product it will deliver for a given expendi- 
ture. The ground peat yielded by it, must be moulded 
by hand, or by other machinery. This machine, we un- 
derstand, has been tried near Boston, and abandoned as 
uneconomical. 

The machines we have described are by no means all 
that have been proposed and patented. They include, 
however, so the author believes, all that have been put in- 
to actual operation, at the date of this writing, or that 
present important peculiarities of construction. 

The account that has been given of them will serve to 
illustrate what mechanism has accomplished hitherto in 
the manufacture of peat-fuel, and may save the talent of 
the American inventor from wasting itself on what is al- 
ready in use, or having been tried, has been found want- 
ing. At present, very considerable attention is devoted to 

* Described in Journal of the Society of Arts, 1860, p. 437. 



152 PEAT AND ITS FSES. 

the subject. Scarcely a week passes without placing one 
or more Peat-mill patents on record. In this treatise our 
business is with what has been before the public in a more 
or less practical way, and it would, therefore, be useless 
to copy the specifications of new, and for the most part 
untried patents, which can be found in the files of our me- 
chanical Journals. 

14. Artificial Drying of Peat. 

As we have seen, air-dry peat contains 20 to 30 and 
may easily contain 50 per cent, of water, and the best hot- 
made machine peat contains 15 per cent. When peat is 
used as fuel in ordinary furnaces, this water must be evap- 
orated, and in this process a large amount of heat is con- 
sumed, as is well understood. It is calculated, that the 
temperature which can be produced in perfectly burning 
full-dried peat, compares with that developed in the com- 
bustion of peat containing water, as follows : — 

Pyronietric effect of perfectly dry peat 4000° F. 

" " peat with 30 /?er ce/l^ of water 3240°" 

" " " 50 " " 2848° " 

But, furthermore, moist or air-dried peat does not burn 
in ordinary furnaces, except with considerable waste, as is 
evident from the smokiness of its flame. When air-dried 
peat is distilled in a retort, a heavy yellow vapor escapes 
for some time after the distillation begins, which, obvious- 
ly, contains much inflammable matter, but which is so 
mixed and diluted with steam that it will not burn at all, 
or but imperfectly. It is obvious then, that when a high 
temperature is to be attained, anhydrous or full-dried 
peat is vastly superior to that which has simply been cured 
in the open air. 

Notice has already been made of Weber's drying- 
house, the use of which is an essential part of his system 
of producing peat-fuel. Various other arrangements have 



PEAT AS FUEL. 153 

been proposed from time to time, for accomplishing the same 
object. It appears, however, that in most cases the antici- 
pations regarding their economy have not been fully re- 
alized. It is hardly probable, that artificially dried peat 
can be employed to advantage except where waste heat 
is utilized in the operation. 

A point of the utmost importance in reference to the 
question of drying peat by artificial warmth is this, viz. : 
Although the drying may be carried so far as to remove 
the whole of the water, and produce an absolutely dry 
fuel, the peat absorbs moisture from the air again on ex- 
posure; so that drying to less than 15 per cent of water is 
of no advantage, unless the peat is to be used immediately, 
or within a few days. The employment of highly dried 
peat is consequently practicable only for smelting-works, 
locomotives, and manufiicturing establishments, where it 
may be consumed as fast as it is produced. 

A fact likewise to be regarded is, that artificial drying 
is usually inapplicable to fresh peat. The i^recautions need- 
ful in curing peat have already been detailed. Above all, 
slow drying is necessary, in order that the blocks shrink 
uniformly, without cracking and warping in such a way as 
to seriously injure their solidity and usefulness. In general, 
peat must be air-dried to a considerable extent before it can 
be kiln-dried to advantage. If exposed to dry artificial 
heat, when comparatively moist, a hard crust is formed ex- 
ternally, which greatly hinders subsequent desiccation. At 
the same time this crust, contracting around the moist inte- 
rior-, becomes so rifted and broken, that the ultimate shrink- 
age and condensation of the mass is considerably less than 
it would have been had the drying 2>roceeded more slowly. 

Besides Weber's drying oven, the fuel for firing which 
is derived without cost fi-om the stumps and roots of trees 
that are abundant on the moor, at Staltach, and which. 
7* 



154 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



are thus conveniently disposed of, vre have briefly to no- 
tice several other drying kilns with regard to all of 
which, however, it must be remarked, that they can only 
be employed with profit, by the use of waste heat, or, as 
at Staltach, of fuel that is comparatively Avorthless for 
other purposes. 

The JPeat J^llns employed at Lippitzbach, in Carinthia, 
and at Neustadt, in Hanover, are of the kind shown in 




Fif^. 31. — CAKIXXniAN PEAT DRYING KILN. 

fig. 21. The peat with which the main chamber is filled, 
is heated directly by the hot gases that arise from a fire 
made in the fire-place at the left. These gases first enter 
a vault, where they intermingle and cool down some- 
w:hat ; thence they ascend through the openings of the 
brick grating, and tlirough the mass of peat to the top 



PEAT AS FUEL. 155 

of the chamber. On their way they become charged with 
vapor, and falling, pass off throngh the chimney, as is in- 
dicated by the arrows. The draught is regulated by the 
damper on the top of the chimney. To manage the fire, 
so that on the one hand the chimney is sufficiently heated 
to create a draught, and on the other waste of fuel, or 
even ignition of the peat itself is prevented, requires some 
care. 

In Welhier^s Peat Kiln^ (fig. 22) the peat, previously 
air-dried, is exposed to a stream of hot air, until it is com- 
pletely desiccated, and the arrangement is such, that air- 
dried peat may be thrown in at the top, and the hot-dried 
fuel be removed at the bottom, continuously. 

In the cut, A represents the section of a wooden cylinder 
about 10 feet wide and 6| feet deep, which surmounts a 
funnel of iron plate A '. The mouth of the funnel is closed 
by a door n y about 20 inches above the door the pipe ^, 
which conducts hot air, terminates in the ring aa^ through 
the holes in which, e 6, it is distributed into the funnel 
filled with peat. The air is driven in by a blower, and is 
heated by circulating through a system of pipes, which 
are disposed in the chimney of a steamboiler. From time 
to time a quantity of dried peat is drawn off into the 
wagon D^ which runs on rails, and a similar amount of 
undried peat is thrown in above. 

According to Welkner, a kiln of the dimensions stated, 
which cost, about $1800 gold, is capable of desiccating 
daily ten tons of peat with 20 per cent, of water, using 
thereby 2000 cubic feet of air of a temperature of 212*^ 
F. When the air is heated by a fire kept up exclusively 
for that purpose, 10 per cent, of the dried peat, or its 
equivalent, is consumed in the operation. At the Alexis 
Smelting Works, near Lingen, in Hanover, this peat kiln 



Boinemann «fe Keil's Berg und Huettenmaennische Zeitung, 1862, 221. 



156 



PEAT AI!TD ITS USES. 



furnishes about lialf the fuel for a high furnace, in which 
bog iron ore is smelted. The drying costs but little, since 
half the requisite heat is obtained from the waste heat of 
the furnace itself 

The advantages of this drying kiln are, that it is cheap 
in construction and working; dries gradually and uni- 




33.— welkner's peat drying kiln. 



formly; occupies little ground, and runs without inter- 
mission. 

Other drying ovens are described in Knapp's Lehrbuch 
der Chemisehen Technologies 3. Aufl, Bd. 1, Theil 1, pp. 
178-9 J Jahrbuch der Bergakademien Bchemnitz und 
Zeohen, 1860, p. 108, 1861, p. 55; Wagner's Jahres- 



PEAT AS FUEL. 157 

hericht der Chemischen Technologic, 1863, p. 748; Zer- 
reiiner's Metallurgische Gasfeuerung in Oesterreich ; Tiin- 
ner's Stabeisen- und Stahlbereitung, 2. Auflage, Bd. 1, 
pp. 23-25. 

15. J*eat Coal, or Coke. 

When peat is charred, it yields a coal or coke which, 
beiug richer in carbon, is capable of giving an intenser 
heat than peat itself, in the same way that charcoal emits 
an intenser heat in its combustion than the wood from 
which it is made. 

Peat coal has been and is employed to some extent iii 
metallurgical processes, as a substitute for charcoal, and 
when properly prepared from good peat, is in no way in- 
ferior to the latter ; is, in fact, better. 

It is only, however, from peat which naturally dries to 
a hard and dense consistency, or which has been solidi- 
fied on the principles of Challeton's and Weber's meth- 
ods, that a coal can be made possessing the firmness ne- 
cessary for furnace use. Fibrous peat, or that condensed 
by pressure, as in Exter's, Elsberg's, and the Lithuanian 
process, yields by coking or charring, a friable coal com- 
paratively unsuited for heating purposes. 

A peat which is dense as the result of proper mechani- 
cal treatment and slow drying, yields a very homogeneous 
and compact coal, superior to any wood charcoal, the best 
qualities weighing nearly twice as much per bushel. 

Peat is either charred in pits and heaps, or in kilns. 
From the regularity of the rectangular blocks into which 
peat is usually formed, it may be charred more easily in 
pits than wood, since the blocks admit of closer packing 
in the heap, and because the peat coal is less inflammable 
than wood coal. The heaps may likewise be made much 
smaller than is needful in case of wood, viz. : six to eight 
feet in diameter, and four feet high. The pit is arranged 



158 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

as follows : The ground is selected and prepared as for 
charcoal biirnmg, and should be elevated, dry and com- 
pact. Three stout poles are firmly driven into the ground, 
so as to stand vertically and equi-distant from each other, 
leaving within them a space of six or eight inches. 
Around these poles the peats are placed endwise, in con- 
centric rows to the required width and height, leaving at 
the bottom a number of air-channels of the width of one 
peat, radiating from the centre outwards. The upper lay- 
ers of peat are narrowed in so as to round off the heap, 
which is first covered with dry leaves, sods, or moss, over 
which a layer of soil is thrown. Dry, light wood being 
placed at the bottom of the central shaft, it is kindled 
from one of the canals at the bottom, and the charring is 
conducted as is usual in making wood coal. The yield 
of coal ranges from 25 to 35 per cent, of the peat by 
weight, and from 30 to 50 per cent, by volume. 

Gysser recommends to mould the peat for charring in 
tlie form of cylinders of 3 to 4 feet long, which, when 
dry, may be built up into a heap like wood. 

A great variety of ovens or kilns have been constructed 
for coking peat. 

At the Gun Factory of Oberndorf, in Wirtemberg, 
peat is charred in the kiln represented in the accompany- 
ing figure. The chamber is 9 feet high, and 5^ feet in di- 
ameter." The oven proper, h J, is surrounded by a mantle 
of brick a a., and the space between, c c, is filled with sand. 
Each wall, as well as the space, is 15 inches in thickness, 
and the walls are connected by stones d d, at intervals 
of three feet. Above the sole of the kiln, are three series 
of air holes, made by imbedding old gun barrels in the 
walls. The door, which serves to empty the kiln, is a 
plate of cast iron, the sides of its frame are wider than 
the thickness of the wall, and by means of a board e, a 
box m can be made in front of the door, which is filled 



PEAT AS FUEL. 



159 



Avith sand to prevent access of air. Tiie peat is filled in 
through ^, a channel being arranged across the bottom of 
the kiln, frqm the door /, for kindling. When the firing 
begins, the lowest air-holes and i are open. When, 
through the lower gun barrels, the peat is seen to be ig- 
nited, these are carked, and those above are opened. 
When the smoke ceases to escape above, all the openings 
are closed, m is filled with sand, i is covered over with it, 
and the whole is left to cool. It requires about 8 to 9 
days to finish the charring of a charge. Several kilns are 
kept in operation, so that the work proceeds uninterrupt- 
edly. 

fl 




^. 23. — OBERNDOKFER PEAT CHARRING KILN. 



At Staltach, Weber prepares peat coal in a cylinder of 
sheet iron, which is surrounded by masonry. Below, it 
rests on a grating of stout wire. Above, it has a cover, 
that may be raised by a pulley and on one side is attached a 
small furnace, figure 24, the draught of which is kept up by 
means of a blower, or an exhaustor, and the flame and hot 



IGO 



PEAT AND ITS USES. 



gases from it, which contain no excess of oxygen^ P^^y 
upon the peat and decompose it, expelling its volatile 

portions without burning or 
wasting it in the slightest de- 
gree. The construction of the 
furnace, see fig. 24, is such, that 
the sticks of wood, which 
are employed for fuel, are 
supported at their ends on 
shoulders in the brick-work. 
Fig. 24.— WEBER'S CHARRING ^nd thc draught enters the 
FURNACE.— TRANSVERSE SECTION, firc abovG iustcad of below. 
The wood is hereby completely consumed, and by regulat- 
ing the supply of air at a (fig. 25) by a sliding cover, and at 





Fig. 25. — WEBER'S CHARRING FURNACE. — LONGITUDINAL SECTION, 



J by a register, the flame and current of air which enters 
the cylinder containing the peat, is intensely hot and ac- 
complishes a rapid carbonization of the peat, but as before 



PEAT AS FUEL. 161 

Stated, does not burn it. In this furnace the wood, which 
is cut of uniform length, is itself the grate, since iron 
would melt or rapidly burn out ; and the coals that fall 
are consumed by the air admitted through c. The hot 
gases which enter the cylinder filled with peat near its 
top, are distributed by pipes, and, passing off through 
the grating at the bottom, enter the surrounding brick 
mantle. Before reaching the exhaustor, however, they 
pass through a cooler in which a quantity of tar and 
pyroligneous acid is collected. 

Weber's oven is 15 feet in diameter, and 3^ feet high ; 
528 cubic feet of peat may be coked in it in the space of 
15 hours. The wood furnace is 2 feet in section, and con- 
sumes for the above amount of peat 3| cwt. of wood. So 
perfectly are the contents of the iron cylinder protected 
from contact of oxygen, that a rabbit placed within it, 
has been converted into coal without the singeing of a 
hair; and a bouquet of flowers has been carbonized, per- 
fectly retaining its shape. The yield of coal in Weber's 
oven is nearly 50 per cent, of the peat by weight. 

Whenever possible, charring of peat should be carried 
on, or aided by waste heat, or the heat necessary to coking 
should be itself economized. In manufacturing and 
metallurgical establishments, a considerable economy in 
both the drying and coking may often be effected in this 
manner. 

On the bog of Allen, in Ireland, we have an example 
of this kind. Peat is placed in iron ovens in the form of 
truncated pyramids, the bottoms of which consist of mov- 
able and perforated iron plates. The ovens are mounted 
on wheels, and run on a rail track. 

Five ovens filled with peat are run into a j^it in a dry- 
ing house, in which blocks of fresh peat are arranged for 
drying. Each oven is connected with a flue, and fire is 
applied. The peat burns below, and the heat generated 



162 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

in the coking, warms the air of the drying house. When 
the escaping smoke becomes transparent, the pit in which 
the ovens stand is filled with water slightly above their 
lower edges, whereby access of air to the burning peat is 
at once cut ofi*. When cool, the ovens are run out and 
replaced by others filled with peat. Each oven holds 
about 600 lbs. of peat, and the yield of coal is 25 per cent. 
by weight. The small yield compared with that obtained 
by Weber's method, is due to the burning of the peat and 
the coal itself, in the draught of air that passes through 
the ovens. 

The author has carbonized, in an iron retort, specimens 
of peat prepared by Elsberg's, Leavitt's, and Aschcroft 
and Betteley's processes. Elsberg's gave 35, the others 
87 per cent, of coal. The coal from Elsberg's peat was 
greatly fissured, and could be crushed in the fingers to 
small friigments. That from the other peats was more 
firm, and required considerable exertion to break it. All 
had a decided metallic brilliancy of surface. 

16. — Metallurgical Uses of Peat. 

In Austria, more than any other country, peat has been 
employed in the manufacture of iron. In Bavaria, Prussia, 
Wirtemberg, Hanover, and Sweden, and latterly in Great 
Britain, peat has been put to the same use. The general 
results of experience, are as follows ; — 

Peat can only be employed to advantage, when wood 
and mineral coal are expensive, or of poor quality. 

Peat can be used in furnaces adapted for charcoal, but 
not in those built for mineral coal. 

Good air-dry peat, containing 20 to 30 per cent, of wa- 
ter, in some cases may replace a share of charcoal in the 
high furnace. 

At Pillersee, in Austria, spathic iron ore has been re- 
duced by a mixture of fir-wood charcoal, and air-dry peat 



PEAT AS FUEL. 163 

in the proportions of three parts by bnlk of the former to 
one of the hitter. The use of peat was found to effect a 
considerable saving in the outlay for fuel, and enabled the 
production to be somewhat increased, while the excellence 
of the iron was in no way impaired. The peat was of the 
best quahty, and was worked and moulded by hand. 

When the ore is refractory and contains impurities that 
must be fluxed and worked off in slag, a large proportion 
of air-dry peat cannot be used to advantage, because the 
evaporation of the water in it consumes so much heat, 
that the requisite temperature is not easily attained. 

At Achthal, in Bavaria, air-dry peat was employed in 
1860, to replace a portion of the fir wood charcoal, which 
had been used for smelting an impure clay-iron-stone : the 
latter fuel having become so dear, that peat was resorted 
to. as a make shift. Instead of one " sack," or 33 cubic feet 
of charcoal, 24 cubic feet of charcoal and 15 cubic feet of 
peat were employed in each charge, and the quantity of ore 
had to be diminished thereby, so that the yield of pig was 
reduced, on the average, by about V7 per cent. In this case 
the quality of tlie iron, when worked into bar, was injured 
by the use of peat, obviously from an increase of its con- 
tent of phosphorus. The exclusive use of air-dry peat as 
fuel in the high furnace, appears to be out of the question. 

At Ransko, in Bohemia, kiln-dried peat^ nearly alto- 
gether free from water, has been employed in a high furn- 
ace, mixed with but one-third its bulk of charcoal, and in 
cupola furnaces for re-melting pig, full-dried peat has been 
used alone, answering the purpose perfectly. 

The most important metallurgical application of peat is 
in the refining of iron. 

Dried peat is extensively used in puddling furnaces, 
especially in the so-called gas puddling furnaces, in Carin- 
thia, Steyermark, Silesia, Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Sweden, 



164 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

and other parts of Europe. In Steyermark, peat has 
been thus employed for 25 years. 

Air-dry peat is, indeed, also employed, but is not so 
well adapted for puddling, as its water burns away a nota- 
ble quantity of iron. It is one of the best known facts in 
chemistry, that ignited iron is rapidly oxidized in a stream 
of water-vapor, free hydrogen being at the same time^ 
evolved. 

In the high furnace, peat-coal^ when compact and firm 
(not crumbly) may replace charcoal perfectly, but its cost 
is usually too great. 

Wlien peat or peat-coal is employed in smelting, it must 
be as free as possible from ash, because the ash usually 
consists largely of silica, and this must be worked off by 
flux. If the ash be carbonate of lime, it will, in most 
cases, serve itself usefully as flux. In hearth jmddling, 
it is important not only that the peat or peat-coal con- 
tain little ash, but especially that tlie ash be as free as 
possible from sulphates and phosphates, which act so de- 
leteriously on the metal. The notion that, in general, 
peat and peat charcoal are j^eculiarly adapted for the iron 
manuficture, because they are free from sulphur and 
phosphorus, is extremely erroneous. Not infrequently 
they contain these bodies in such quantity, as to forbid 
their use in smelting. 

In the gas-puddling furnace, or in the ordinary rever- 
beratory, impure peat may, however, be employed, since 
the ashes do not come in contact with the metal. The only 
disadvantage in the use of peat in these furnaces is, that 
the grates require cleaning more frequently, which inter- 
rupts the fire, and, according to Tunner, increases the con- 
sumption of fuel 8 to 10 per cent.^ and diminishes the 
amount of metal that can be turned out in a given time 
by the same quantity. 



PEAT AS FUEL. 165 

Notwithstanding the interruption of work, it has been 
found, at Rothburga, in Austria, that by substitution of 
machine-made and kiln-dried peat for wood in the gas-pud- 
dling furnace, a saving of 50 per cent, in the cost of bar 
iron was effected, in 1860. What is to the point, in esti- 
mating the economy of peat, is the fact that while 6.2 
cubic feet of dry fir-wood were required to produce 100 
lbs. of crude bar, this quantity of iron could be puddled 
with 4.3 cubic feet of peat. 

In the gas furnace, a second blast of air is thrown into 
the flame, effecting its complete combustion ; Dellvik as- 
serts, that at Lesjoeforss, in Sweden, 100 lbs. of kiln- 
dried peat are equal to 197 lbs. of kiln-dried wood in 
heavy forging. In an ordinary fire, the peat would be 
less effective from the escape of unburned carbon in the 
smoke. 

In other metallurgical and manufacturing operations 
where flame is required, as well as in those which are not 
inconvenienced by the ingredients of its ash, it is obvious 
that peat can be employed when circumstances conspire 
to render its use economical. 

17. — Peat as a source of illuminating gas. 

Prof. Pettenkofer, of Munich, was the first to succeed 
in making illuminating gas from wood ; and peat, when 
operated according to his method, furnishes also a gas of 
good quality, though somewhat inferior to wood-gas in 
illuminating power. • < 

It is essential, that well-dried peat be employed, and 
the waste heat from the retorts may serve in part, at least, 
for the drying. 

The retorts must be of a good conducting material ; 
therefore cast iron is better than clay. They are made of 
the ft form, and must be relatively larger than those 



166 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

used for coal. A retort of two feet width, one foot depth, 
and 8 to 9 feet length, must receive but 100 lbs. of peat at 
a charge. 

The quantity of gas yielded in a given time, is much 
greater than from bituminous coal. From retorts of the 
size just named, 8000 to 9000 cubic feet of gas are deliv- 
ered in 24 hours. The exit pipes must, therefore, be large, 
not less than 5 to 6 inches, and the coolers must be much 
more effective than is needful for coal gas, in order to 
separate from it the tarry matters. 

The number of retorts requisite to furnish a given vol- 
ume of gas, is much less than in the manufacture from 
coal. On the other hand, the dimensions of the furnace 
are considerably greater, because the consumption of fuel 
must be more rapid, in order to supply the heat, which is 
carried off by the copious formation of gas. 

Gas may be made from peat at a comparatively low 
temperature, but its illuminating power is then trifling. 
At a red heat alone can we procure a gas of good quahty. 

The chief impurity of peat-gas is carbonic acid : this 
amounts to 25 to 30 per cent, of the gas before purifica- 
tion, and if the peat be insufiiciently dried, it is consider- 
ably more. The quantity of slaked lime that is consumed 
in purifying, is therefore much greater than is needed for 
coal-gas, and is an expensive item in the making of peat-gas. 

While wood-gas is practically free from sulphur com- 
pounds and ammonia, peat-gas may contain them both, 
especially the latter, in quantity that depends upon the 
composition of the peat, which, as regards sulphur and 
nitrogen, is very variable. 

Peat-gas is denser than coal-gas, and therefore cannot 
be burned to advantage except from considerably wider 
orifices than answer for the latter, and under slight pres- 
sure. 

The above statements show the absurdity of judging 



PEAT AS FUEL. 167 

-of the value of peat as a source of gas, by the results of 
trials made in gas works arranged for bituminous coal. 

As to the yield of gas we have the following data, 
weights and measures being English : — 

100 lbs. of peat of medium quality from Munich, gave Reissig 303 cub. ft. 

" air-dry peat from Biermoos, Salzburg, gave Riedinoer 305 " 

" very light fibrous peat, gave Reissig 379 to 430 " 

" Exter's machine-peat, from Haspelmoor, gave 367 " 

Thenius states, that, to produce 1000 English cubic feet 
of purified peat-gas, in the works at Kempten, Bavaria, 
there are required in the retorts 292 lbs of peat. To dis- 
til this, 138| lbs. of peat are consumed in the fire ; and to 
purify the gas from carbonic acid, 91^ lbs. of lime are used. 
In the retorts remain 117 lbs. of peat coal, and nearly 6 
lbs. of tar are collected in the operation, besides smaller 
quantities of acetic acid and ammonia. 

According to Stammer, 4 cwt. of dry peat are required 
for 1000 cubic feet of purified gas. 

The quality of the gas is somewhat better than that 
made from bituminous coal. 

18. — The examination of Peat as to its value for Fuel, 
begins with and refers to the air-dry substance, in which : 

1. — Water is estimated, by drying the pulverized peat, 
at 212°, as long as any diminution of weight occurs. 
WeU-dried peat-fuel should not contain more than 20 per 
cent, of water. On the other hand it cannot contain less 
than 15 per cent.^ except it has been artificially dried at a 
high temperature, or kept for a long time in a heated 
apartment. 

2. — Ash is estimated by carefully burning the dry resi- 
due in 1. In first-rate fuel, it should amount to less than 
3 per cent. If more than 8 per cent.,, the peat is thereby 
rendered of inferior quality, though peat is employed 
which contains considerably more. 



168 PEAT AND ITS USES. 

3. — Sulphur and phosphorus are estimated by pro- 
cesses, which it would be useless to describe here. Only 
in case of vitriol peats is so much sulphur present, that it 
is recognizable by the suffocating fumes of sulphuric acid 
or of sulphurous acid, which escape in the burning. When 
peat is to be employed for iron manufacture, or under 
steam boilers, its phosphorus, and especially its sulphur, 
should be estimated, as they injure the quality of iron 
when their quantity exceeds a certain small amount, and 
have a destructive effect on grate-bars and boilers. For 
common uses it is unnecessary to regard these substances. 

4. — The quantity of coal or coke yielded by peat, is de- 
termined by heating a weighed quantity of the peat to 
redness in an iron retort, or in a large platinum crucible, 
until gases cease to escape. The neck of the retort is 
corked, and when the vessel is cool, the coal is removed 
and weighed. In case a platinum crucible is employed, it 
should have a tight-fitting cover, and when gases cease to 
escape, the crucible is quickly cooled by placing it in cold 
water. 

Coal, or coke, includes of course the ash of the peat. 
This, being variable, should be deducted, and the ash-free 
coal be considered in comparing fuels. 

5. — The density of peat-fuel may be ascertained by cut- 
ting out a block that will admit of accurate measurement, 
calculating its cubic contents, and comparing its weight 
with that of an equal bulk of water. To avoid calcula- 
tion, the block may be made accurately one or several 
cubic inches in dimensions and weighed. The cubic inch 
of water at 60® F., weighs 252| grains. 



